Daily iPad App: Dynamite Jack is a welcome arrival on the iPad

Phil Hassey's great Dynamite Jack game arrived on Steam and the Mac App Store a little while ago, but Phil told us back at GDC this year that he's been planning an iOS release. This week, that finally happened, and Dynamite Jack is now available on the iPad. The game's a 2D stealth affair, where you guide Jack through a series of caverns, trying to dodge guards, cave trolls, lasers, and spiders to collect chips and make it to the exit alive.

Hassey's done an impressive job porting the game over here. The virtual controls work just fine and a new line-drawing mode lets you trace a line on the screen to guide Jack's route. At first, I stuck with the virtual controls, but I think for the tougher stealth levels, I actually prefer drawing lines.

Impressively, the iOS app includes all of the community-created maps, and a built-in map editor lets you create your own levels. Custom levels come with their own leaderboards. There's a crazy amount of replayability on this one, to be sure.

Dynamite Jack is US$2.99 on the App Store, and I think this is the best version of the game released yet. If you've made the mistake of not playing this game yet, now's your chance. This is the version you want.