Upcoming iPhone games: Brainsss, AbraWordabra

Every Friday, we like to finish off the week by looking ahead and talking about the iPhone and iPad games that are just over the horizon.

This week, we're a little light on games. That could certainly be our fault: unlike the hyper-organised scheduling of games in the console world, App Store release dates are a lot more tricky to pin down.

Or maybe next week's release calendar really is going to look like the recent weather: a bit grim. We'll let you know.

Note: Dates, prices, and features are subject to change at the whim of the developer and Apple's approval team. Dates were correct at time of publication.

AbraWordabra
By Total Arkade - out on iPhone and iPad on May 2nd (source)

AbraWordabra is the debut game from Total Arkade: a studio founded by veteran game developer and former Halfbrick (Jetpack Joyride) staffer Tony Takoushi.

If you couldn't tell from the game's name, AbraWordabra is about magic. And it's also about spelling things correctly - something Tony seemingly ignored when naming his company.

An evil magician has cast a spell (as they are wont to do) and turned his entire audience into a mutant band of anthropomorphised letters. They stumble around the screen, their organs squished into uncomfortable Z and J shapes.

Your job is to herd these alphabetised monsters into a trapdoor so that they fall into a magic book and transform - a second time - into letter tiles. Now, you can use these to solve word puzzles.

In one mode, you need to find the right letters to complete a half-finished word. In another, you need to correct typos by swapping out incorrect letters. In addition, there's a basic anagram game available. The final mode, meanwhile, has you popping balloons to make words.

Brainsss
By Lonely Few - out on iPhone and iPad on May 3rd

Is anyone else sick to death of zombie games? There are only so many times you can run away from undead monsters before you get bored and end it all by offering your fleshy brain to the horde of walking dead on your trail.

Luckily, Brainsss tries something different. This time around, you play as the zombies and your goal is to chow down on as many human heads as possible.

Each level takes place in some idyllic location like a quiet American suburb or a school playground. You get a top-down view of the environment, and you'll tap away at the screen to send your shuffling hoard of brain-munchers towards unsuspecting civilians.

It's a bit like an RTS, or Nintendo's Pikmin. Only, instead of fighting baddies and collecting resources, you're eating grey matter.

You'll have to carefully plan your route to avoid gun-toting cops, and you'll need to split your group up to cut off escape routes and lead the humans into bottlenecks. Then, it's a case of overwhelming the survivors and forcefully enlisting them in your undead army.

Brainsss is the debut game from developer Lonely Few, which is co-owned by ex-BioWare and Pandemic Studios developers. Lonely Few told Pocket Gamer that it hopes for Brainsss to hit the App Store on May 3rd.