Underworld released via iPhone OS hack Cydia

We've had our eye on iPhone game Underworld for some time now. Originally penned for release in early November 2008 under the title Drug Lords, the game's launch plans have since ground to a halt as it's become mired in Apple's fuzzy App Store approval process.

The game, now known as Underworld, is a re-imagining of cult 1990's classic Dope Wars, which found you travelling around America, buying and selling drugs in a desperate bid to pay off an angry loan shark. On the way, you'd shudder as your high-interest loan snowballed, face-off the cops, and travel around with more illicit narcotics than a Columbia speed boat on the way to Mexico.

The developer behind Underworld, a-steroids, also made sure to exploit the iPhone's hardware and features by making use of GPS and its connectivity, enabling you to do your dirty business with other players in your geographical vicinity. It's not just a clever twist on a classic game either, the graphics are deliciously colourful too.

And yet, there is a small light at the end of the tunnel. Head of studio Andrey Podoprigora contacted us to say Underworld is now being released through Cydia, the open source iPhone OS. So while the title hasn't yet made it to the official App Store, it is available to anyone with a jailbroken iPhone. Use this link to get the Cydia version of Underworld.

Potential pushers looking to get in on a little street-corner action therefore have two choices: jailbreak your iPhone (which we don't endorse and really is for more tech-savvy users) or wait/pray for an official App Store release. While the latter of these two options may not seem very likely, Andrey says that a-steroids has one more trick up its sleeve:

"You know, since Underworld is a Massively Multiplayer Online game, its greatest potential can be revealed only with the massive count of players. So, while testing the gameplay with Cydia's release, our main goal is to make it to the AppStore as soon as possible. There are options to do that, and some of them were already used with success by other iPhone titles (like Prohibition, for example). I think we might try it this way too."

The game which Andrey is referring to, a Dope Wars-clone entitled Prohibition (not as feature-packed, pretty or polished) was originally rejected by Apple, apparently due to the game's narcotics theme. The developer promptly re-skinned and re-named the game, Prohibition 3: Candy Wars, after which it was approved for release.

Let's hope then that we do finally see Underworld hit the App Store, even if it is in some re-imagined sugar-coated form. In the meantime, jailbroken iPhone gamers should get in on the action via Cydia and let us know their thoughts.