Fresh iPhone Apps for Dec. 9: Illusia, Dead Rising Mobile, Facebook (update)

This is usually where we feature brand new, interesting apps that aren’t games, but today is too big a day for mobile gaming for all the goodness to be contained in just our Fresh iPhone Games post. Check out a couple of big, interesting offerings below — plus one standard app that’s worth checking out in between gaming sessions.

Illusia (iPhone, iPad) $4.99

The first thing you’ll notice about Illusia is its vibrant, cartoon-looking anime graphical style, which definitely gives an air of lighthearted fun to this platforming, role-playing game. Like a lot of classic console RPGs, the game incorporates 2D side-scrolling gameplay and lots of customization and skill-building to increase the stats and abilities of your character.

You’ll get multiple game modes, including a time trial Rush mode and Mission mode, in addition to Illusia’s seven-stage story mode. There’s plenty of fighting, story and customization to keep you busy.

Dead Rising Mobile (iPhone) $4.99

In the wake of the release of Dead Rising 2 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 earlier this year, Capcom has created an adaptation of the original zombie-bashing action game to the iPhone and iPad. You play as photojournalist Frank West, who finds himself chasing the story of a lifetime — a massive zombie outbreak in a mid-size Colorado town — from inside a shopping mall filled with decaying flesh-eaters.

You’ll race around the mall, grabbing just about anything you can find to use to bash zombie brains in. Dead Rising features some cool social support: namely, if you succumb to zombies in the game, you can call for help from friends on Facebook and Twitter for them to revive you. And if they don’t save your life, you can get back at them by resurrecting as a zombie in their game

Facebook update (iPhone, iPad) Free

Not too long ago, Facebook’s iPhone app received a subtle but important update, fixing a photo uploading glitch that actually drove some users to find alternative apps for sharing photos. After the update, you can now upload photos on the mobile app directly to specific albums, which makes sharing groups of photos a whole lot easier and more convenient, especially if you’re snapping them with your phone on the go.

The app also was updated to give users access to their account information and privacy settings, which is a big deal especially when you consider that the app makes use of Facebook Places, the location-sharing function that has received quite a bit of attention for potentially invading people’s privacy. At least now, you don’t have to be at a computer to adjust who can see what portions of your online profile.

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