Physics Gamebox [99¢] hit the App Store recently and is packed with iPhone ports of two extremely popular Flash games originally created by NewGrounds superstar Johnny-K. Included in the Gamebox is Roly-Poly Cannon and Ragdoll Cannon, both freely playable on NewGrounds in any web browser sporting the Flash plugin.

Likely the most recognizable game out of the Physics Gamebox is going to be Ragdoll Cannon, which actually has been a free Flash game quite a long time before Backflip Studios’ Ragdoll Blaster [$1.99] landed on the App Store. Gameplay is practically identical, right down to the art style. In Ragdoll Cannon, you touch the screen to launch ragdolls to hit a box marked “HERE”. Just like Ragdoll Blaster, you can either play Ragdoll Cannon valuing accuracy and precision and attempt to clear levels in as few ragdolls as possible, or you can just go to town spamming ragdolls to your heart’s content until one of them manages to run in to the target.

200 levels are included for Ragdoll Cannon, and there is a good difficulty curve which didn’t take long before I found myself stuck on a level hopelessly spamming ragdolls trying to figure out what to do. Thankfully, in these instances, you’re able to skip forward up to five levels so you’re never really ever stuck in the game… Unless of course the five levels you can skip to you’re also incapable of solving.

The second game in Physics Gamebox, Roly-Poly Cannon, is actually much more fun than I was expecting it to be. It uses an identical control system, where you tap on the screen to aim and fire bombs with the power controlled by how far away from the cannon you’re tapping. Instead of shooting ragdolls at a target, you’re firing bombs at enemies on screen. Killing all the bad guys on screen often requires the clever use of other bombs that are already set up on a level, and an additional layer of complexity is quickly thrown in with good guys that you don’t want to blow up.

Only 100 levels are included in Roly-Poly Cannon, but they seem to be much more complicated on average so it wouldn’t surprise me if you got just as much (if not more) playtime out of this half of the game, especially if you find yourself getting in to clearing levels using as few bombs as possible. Just like Ragdoll Cannon, if you find yourself stuck, you can also skip ahead up to five levels in Roly-Poly Cannon.

Touch Arcade Forum members are having a lot of fun with the game per responses in the Physics Gamebox thread, and I’ve had a great time so far playing through levels in both Ragdoll Cannon and Roly-Poly Cannon. If you were among the millions of people who have downloaded physics games like Ragdoll Blaster or its sequel, Angry Birds, and other similar “shoot things at other things” games, Physics Gamebox should be an easy purchase.

Something to look forward to in the future is the fact that the original creator of these games, Johnny-K, has created quite a few sequels and level packs for both Roly-Poly Cannon, Ragdoll Cannon, and other similar cannon games. Hopefully these will eventually also be released, either as separate game boxes, updates, or DLC addons. Or, at least, I’ve got my fingers crossed.

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Gameplay amounts to making your way through the 60 included levels (with more coming soon per the iTunes description) by tapping on screen to remove pieces in order to guide the star at the top of the pile safely to the ground– Very similar to game modes in the Topple series, Finger Physics, and others.

What interested me in Tumbledrop was the forced delay in between removing the pieces that comprise the various structures of each level. Other games you could pretty easily cheese your way through the challenges by just quickly removing pieces as fast as possible while guiding the goal item back to the ground. In Tumbledrop, you have to plan your movements carefully as you can only remove one piece every three seconds.

Tumbledrop isn’t particularly original, but if you’re a fan of these types of games you likely have several similar ones on your phone already. If you want to give the game a try, there’s a free version you can play in a web browser, you just have to download the Unity browser plugin. It’s worth a look, if only to see how happy the star you’re rescuing gets when its on the ground accompanied by the fanfare of rainbows and multi-colored confetti before progressing to the next level.

App Store Link: Tumbledrop, .99

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Hell, yeah.

Such is the terrorist threat these days that people get arrested for buying a couple of bottles of blonde hair dye, so we doubt any common johnny is going to get his hands on military grade C4 and take down anything taller than a Lego bungalow.

Well, I hope….

Anyhow, if so it will be the fault of the Canadians. At least, IUGO, which has progressed from the realistic physics of its Toy Bot Diaries games to the “Watch buildings tumble with real physics!” of Implode!

Nice touch, by the way. Implode! Not Explode! Much more friendly.

Your task is “to carefully plant limited dynamite bundles in order to demo obsolete structures”.

There will be 60 levels and two types of explosives – bombs and blast bombs.

Your performance will be graded and scores will be submitted online – although there’s no mention of a known social networking technology – so this maybe a IUGO homebrew solution.

Sorry officer. A self developed online leaderboard. There are no large barrels of fertiliser here.

There will also be a sandbox cheat that gives you more bombs and in which you never fail. We’d like one of those for life, but even in Implode!, it’s high score disabled.

To gain access to this you’ll have to be IUGO VIP – in which you gain points by getting your friends to buy IUGO games – the details of which you can find here.

We can also confirm that despite our earlier speculation, there won’t be any in-app purchases in Implode!, unless – and we quote from an official source – “the game *cough* blows up and the demand for content is there”.

We are so very sorry for the poor quality of the puns.

Implode! is due to be released very soon i.e. we assume it’s been submitted already. There’s no mention of a price, but we’d reckon it will be somewhere between $1.98 and $2.00.

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See, I’ve always felt like the grappling hook has got a bum rap in movies and videogames as a simple means of scaling rooftops and performing ninja-like entrances and escapes. But as anyone who’s played Bionic Commando, Links Awakening, or even Metroid Prime knows, a good ‘hook can completely change your outlook on a game. The creators of Hook Champ were obviously taking notes, and managed to turn a physics-based platformer into some sort of adventurous, floaty racing game that’s perfect for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

Throughout Hook Champ, you’re tasked with keeping an airbound treasure-hunter alive as he swings away from the cursed whale-being determined to eat him whole. The controls are super simple — just touch left or right to move, and tap a surface to grapple and start your swing — but they require a bit of old-school finesse to get just right. Along the way you’ll find a handful of coins, gems, and artifacts that help pay for new levels, upgrades to your equipment, facial hair, and hats. Can’t forget the hats!

If you expect to be a hook champ right off the bat, try not to feel too bad when you get gobbled up a handful of times — learning how to best build up momentum, tactfully snag coins, and utilize your dwarven rocket boots will take more than  just a few levels (and upgrades) to perfect. Then again, once you do get into the swing of things (boo! hiss!), Hook Champ tosses tiny waterlogged corridors and endless pits of molten magma into the mix to humble you once again. It’s a challenging game, but one that’s both fun and rewarding to perfect; and that’s exactly what makes it such an addicting little app worth keeping an eye on.

The Verdict

Does Hook Champ finally give the grappling hook its just desserts? Absolutely. Hook Champ does a delightful job of being fast and fun, with upgrades, unlockables, and heaps of challenge to keep you playing for more than just a few minutes.

Is it worth $2.99/£2.49 ($0.99/£0.49 for a limited time)? Yes and yes! Take a look at some gameplay vids or screenshots, and you’ll get the gist of the entire game. If it looks like your cup of tea, grab it while it’s hot.

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