Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor hits the App Store top 10

There are always plenty of people moaning that the App Store is full of rubbish 99c games, or that it's full of expensive casual licences from the like of EA Mobile.

This week, however, we can all look on the sunny side as start-up Tiger Style's debut - Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor - has zoomed into the US top 10.

Last week it was at #61 but now it's up to #5 and certain to go higher.

It's a great performance, not only because the title is frankly weird, but because the game costs $2.99 or £1.79.

Still, word-of-mouth and some great reviews - Tracy reckoned "Spider is an altogether compelling combination of subtle narrative and fresh gameplay..." - have overcome these barriers, which is good news for all developers trying to do something different.

Elsewhere on the US chart, as PocketGamer.biz's detailed analysis shows, the big winners were EA Mobile and Gameloft.

EA has 13 games in the US Top 100, of which five are in the top 20. This was partly driven by knocking $2 off the prices of some big games. The result was Wolfenstein RPG was up 33 places to #15, The Sims 3 23 places to #33, and Need for Speed Undercover up 30 places to #37.

Gameloft has 11 games in the Top 100, including the most expensive new entry, Gangstar: West Coast Hustle, which despite a $6.99 price point, was at #26.

Its NFL 2010 ($4.99) game continues to climb, and is currently at #4.

The highest new entry, at #10, was 99c viral game Sheep Launcher Plus!

There was also a new #1 as Occamy Games's Moto X Mayhem (99c) finally made it to the top of the heap after weeks of steadily moving up the charts.

Heading right out of the charts however were Metal Gear Solid Touch, Star Defense, Resident Evil 4, Harbor Master and Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D.

You can check out our full analysis, which compares the average price distribution of the Top 100, as well as the frequency of price points, and the ranking of publishers, over on PocketGamer.biz.