I'm sure I'm not alone in my anticipation of what Steve Jobs will announce on Monday at the Keynote for the WWDC. With that (the iPhone 4G or "HD") in mind, I've decided to make my iPhone apps post about games this week in the hope that we can all kill some time this weekend before the big event.

To start off, possibly my favorite iPhone game from 2009 went on sale today. Meteor Blitz (99 cents; usually $2.99) for iPhone is a fun and challenging classic arcade-style shooter where you use dual joysticks to move and fire. With excellent graphics, arcade and survival modes, and interesting weapon types to take out different types of enemies, this game is a must-download on your iPhone at 99 cents. What's the reason for the sale, you might ask? The developers of Meteor Blitz have just released Meteor Blitz HD for iPad ($4.99), which is even more fun on the big screen. If you can't already tell, I highly recommend this game on both devices. This game will certainly make the wait time before the new iPhone much easier.

This week's apps are both games. One that offers the simple concept of cutting colorful fruit as it shoots up on to your screen and a top-down 2D racer that's surprisingly deep and addictive.

Fruit Ninja is a simple, but well-made game that challenges you to slice and dice fruit with a ninja sword as it flies onto your iPhone screen. The controls are extremely simple, requiring you to swipe your finger through a flying fruit as you would slice with a ninja sword. There are two game modes: Classic and Zen. In Classic you're challenged to slice fruit as it flies on screen while avoiding occasional bombs that will end the game immediately or allowing 3 fruits to drop below the bottom of the screen. In Zen mode you won't have to worry about bombs or missed slices, but will need to slice as many fruits as possible in 90 seconds. Bonuses are awarded for hitting multiple types of fruit in one slice.

Even with a fairly simple game concept, Fruit Ninja manages to be quite fun in each of the game modes as you try to get your best score. The crisp and colorful graphics make each slice satisfying leaving the appropriate colored splat as the juices hit the board behind the playing area. Overall, this simple game offers just the right amount of action, bright colors, and challenge to be perfect for both adults and kids.

LilRacerz Pro Rally is a top down 2D racer where you'll need to win races on various terrains to unlock more cars, tracks, and upgrades. The control system consists of two touch-screen buttons on the left for turning and a gas pedal and break on the right. You also get a turbo button above the gas pedal for brief bursts of speed on straightaways. LilRacerz has two game modes including Quickrace for practicing on tracks with cars you've previously unlocked, or Cup races where you'll race against the AI and unlock cars and tracks by winning.

LilRacerz Pro Rally is difficult to master at first largely because of the spacing between the turning buttons. But with a little practice, you'll start winning races if you use the right strategy. The tracks offer several shortcuts you can use to gain an edge on other racers and--once you learn the tracks--become crucial to winning some of the more difficult races. You'll also need to select the right car each race, each of with you will unlock by winning multirace Cups. After each race, you'll be able to buy upgrades with your race winnings to add to turning, acceleration, top speed, and tire grip. Overall, with several tracks and terrain types, several cars to unlock and upgrade, and plenty of secret paths to discover, LilRacerz Pro Rally is great for experienced racing game fans.

What's your favorite iPhone app? Were you surprised at how fun slicing fruit can be? What do you think of LilRacerz Pro Rally? Let me know in the comments!

Remember App Genie, an iPhone app that combines 27 handy tools into a single 99 cent app? What a rip-off!

I'm kidding, of course--I still like App Genie and consider it a great value. It's just that the new AppTools raises the bar to a whopping 100 tools, all for that same 99 cents. Let me say that again: 100 apps, 99 cents. I think that sets a new record for the "toolbox app" category.

Ah, but are the apps any good? And are they organized into a simple, efficient interface?

Let's start with the apps. Here's a small, random sampling of what you'll find inside AppTools: a bubble level, a mosquito repellent, a talking compass, a talking mortgage calculator, a non-talking car-loan calculator, a magic 8-ball, and a unit converter.

There's value in some of these tools, like the various calculators, the pedometer, the "Where Am I?" location app, and the flashlight. I particularly like the Search DVD Preview app that scans DVD-case bar codes and then finds matching clips in YouTube. Try it out the next time you're trying to decide on a movie at the local video store.

But as you might expect from an app collection that numbers in the three digits, AppTools serves up some stinkers. For example, know what you'll find inside iRecipes? Exactly five recipes, one each for brownies, cheesecake, cookies (variety undisclosed), pear cake, and turkey.

I could go on--and on--but I'll just leave it at this: There's a lot of junk in here.

That doesn't bother me. My real problem is with the interface. AppTools offers three ways to access its apps: Group, Flow, and a scrolling A-Z list. Group presents all the apps as small icons, 16 to a page, which is useless because the icons have no text labels, and deciphering most of them is difficult at best. 

Flow is like Cover Flow, which I've never liked for browsing music and I find it to be similarly pointless here. It's just a slow and awkward way to navigate the collection.

Only the A-Z list is useful, and it lacks an alphabetical side-index for quickly jumping to specific letters. AppTools also needs a dynamic-search field for quickly narrowing the choices. And while we're at it, why not transform Group into an actual set of groups, one each for the calculators, the camera tools, and so on?

These interface problems are compounded by the weird, unintuitive names applied to many apps. For example, do you want to flip a virtual coin? You'd think the tool would be called Coin Flipper, right? Nope: It's Fast Coin Flipper. How would you ever remember that? Same goes for Cool Pedometer--how 'bout just calling it Pedometer, guys? And what's with the dozen-plus apps that have an "i" prefix, like iRecipes, iRandom Number, and, no joke, iInvoice Maker Deluxe?

Finally, some of the tools are just plain confusing, and too many lack instructions. Most are easy enough to figure out, but a few--such as Baby Monitor and iFTP--really need a built-in help guide.

You may think I'm complaining too much about an app that delivers 100 tools for only 99 cents. Maybe so, but until the interface gets an overhaul, I have a hard time recommending AppTools.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas