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Dozen!: Matching with dozens of possibilities
Players quickly match numbers in fun puzzle game called Dozen! The numbers on the four brown squares in the middle of the screen must match with those displayed on the bordering 12 white squares. The squares in the middle disappear after a certain amount of time so players have to be quick about matching the squares. Dozen! is compatible with iOS devices running iOS 6.0 or later. Dozen! starts off fairly easy, which is nice for beginner players learning the game, but matching all four tiles before they disappear gets harder as time goes on. This offers a nice challenge for players while still retaining the fun element. This feels a lot like trying to catch butterflies before they fly away. The puzzle makes players think about the position of the white number squares in an attempt to keep up with the quickly disappearing brown square numbers. Dozen! features Game Center support, which means competitive players can try to get a high score and challenge friends to beat those high scores. There are also achievements that players can try and get. All 12 achievements range in difficulty from getting a score of 500 points to a much more difficult challenges, such as getting at least 3000 points. The UI in Dozen! is pretty clean, there is not overwhelming information on the screen at one time; just the game itself, the score, high score, and a menu/pause button all laid out in a block grid format. The color choices for the game are also non-distracting: the main colors are a fossil greyish brown, white, and a highlight color of cerulean blue. The only distracting feature of Dozen! is the banner ads that remain at the bottom of the screen. Dozen! is free on the App Store and a great challenge for players who enjoy puzzle games during a break.
Hack 'n' Slash changes its IndieCade 2014's Grand Jury Award variable to True
Hack 'n' Slash, Brandon Dillon and Double Fine's adventure that pushes players to solve problems via hacking and tweaking variables, has penetrated IndieCade 2014's databases to grant itself the Grand Jury Award. Indie Game Reviewer's recollection of the ceremony's winners notes additional victories, including the Twitch chat-driven Choice Chamber, which won the Technology Award, and the comic book-style noir adventure Framed, which won the Visual Design Award. Alex Rigopulos, CEO of Rock Band series creator Harmonix, was also awarded the Indiecade Trailblazer Award, with N++ earning the Special Recognition Award. Hack 'n' Slash follows 2013's Grand Jury Award winner, Quadrilateral Cowboy, which beat out Towerfall, Nidhogg, Gone Home and Kentucky Route Zero (all of which still earned alternative recognition). [Image: Double Fine]
Become a hero with Alexia Crow and the Cave of Heroes
The more apps I review, the more I become convinced that games with puzzle aspects are virtually a mainstay for iPhone and iPad users. If that trend is anything near accurate, then Alexia Crow and The Cave of Heroes will likely skyrocket in downloads. The free app is universally available but is optimized for iPhone 5. The game follows Alexia Crow, a young girl who falls down a cave opening and ends up in a mythical realm. Tutored by a centaur who had as his former students such luminaries as Hercules and Achilles, it is Alexia's turn to demonstrate her courage and ingenuity in solving the tasks her tutor gives her, and thus become a heroine in her own right. As such the player sees the game through her eyes as she picks up various necessary objects to advance in the quest and completes a series of interesting puzzles. The game is engaging, with phenomenal graphics and great attention to detail. This is sometimes unusual to find in a game that is compatible with an iPhone (the graphics are computer-quality, at least in my opinion). This is not a rinky-dink throwaway game, but one that the developers clearly spent time and thought in crafting. This type of devotion and care is refreshing. However, an immediate and potentially deal-breaking drawback is that by all appearances one must purchase the first chapter of the game for US$1.99. A very brief demo is available prior to that, but if one actually wishes to play the game, one must purchase the chapter. Frankly, here is buyer manipulation at its worst. The app is touted as free and yet to actually do anything one must spend two dollars. Indeed, I only discovered this after messing around with the demo for some time, not realizing (until I exited to the main menu to see what was going on) that I actually had to pay money to make any actual progress. I would much rather the developers simply charge for the game outright. It is extremely annoying to go through the trouble of downloading an app that claims to be free and then have to pay money to actually use it. The second concern is that the game by all appearances lacks clear direction as to what exactly the player is supposed to do. I played nearly the entire first chapter in preparing for this review, and I actually had to hunt down a walkthrough on YouTube to figure out what on earth I was supposed to do to begin the quest and solve the puzzles. Had I not had that, I would have been flailing around helplessly trying to figure out precisely what I was supposed to do for the first quest. Certainly I do not expect the game to solve everything for me - if I wanted that, I could watch any number of game shows passively on TV. Even given the cute intro video at the beginning which shows Alexia fall down that cave and land on the ground, I was very confused as to what was to happen next. I felt a bit bewildered. Unless I profoundly missed something, there was zero direction. I'm a fan of walkthroughs if a game has me really stumped, but I expect a little guidance and direction on what I am supposed to accomplish before I resort to such desperate efforts. A game should not be like stumbling around in the dark trying to find a light switch. This defeats the fun purpose of play. But at the same time, I suppose the lack of direction enhances the bewildering context in which Alexia finds herself, so it isn't all bad. With all that said, I actually really enjoyed Cave of Heroes. The basic thrust is that Alexia must complete a series of puzzles (which are hidden throughout the realm she explores) to get special objects to further her progress in the quest. As she completes the puzzles, or occasionally just lying around, different trinkets appear: A fishing rod to catch fish which go into a potion and become a stone, both of which end up furthering the gameplay. A series of rhombus-shaped stones activated by being placed in matching holes on a Zeus statue, so they can be used in another puzzle. Multiple silver and gold keys, which unlock portions of yet another puzzle. And so on. This kind of complex continuity between puzzles and aspects of the quest is wonderful, because it demonstrates not only a thoughtful storytelling but also an attention to detail and a purposefulness in gameplay that is delightfully symmetrical. Indeed, this kind of meticulous and overarching attention to usefulness, purpose, and balance only serves to highlight the seeming inconsistency with the game's frustrating lack of direction. It is as if the game is one giant puzzle, with many smaller puzzles that yield the pieces of the larger, none of which are wasted or unnecessary. Players should also note there is not any audible dialogue in the game - anything spoken by Alexia and any other characters appears in a kind of subtitle at the bottom or top of the screen. This was not at all a detriment to gameplay, but it was different than what I was expecting. The background music and sound effects are interesting and at times winsome but can be distracting, so I played with my phone on silent. One potential caveat for iPhone/iPod Touch users: Because the game operates via touchscreen, the smaller screen may prove difficult to maneuver in certain puzzles. I learned this the hard way, as a slight touch in the wrong part of the screen would mess up an entire puzzle and I would have to start over. While this was not a huge issue, it may be something to note going in. While there are some potential flaws to the game (most notably the financial one), overall Alexia Crow and The Cave of Heroes is a thoughtful and delightful exercise in both attractive graphics and challenging puzzles. As we follow Alexia on her quest to become a hero, her accomplishments become ours, until all of us just might feel a bit more heroic ourselves.
Keep on trucking with RGB Express
Cute colorful miniature trucks need help navigating on their mission to pick up and deliver the correct blocks to houses in RGB Express. Players draw a line with their finger to direct where the trucks will go in this fascinating puzzle game. It is relaxing and enjoyably challenging at times. RGB Express is compatible with iOS devices running iOS 6.0 or later. RGB Express has an interesting balance of relaxing gameplay while still being engaging. The difficulty level of each puzzle builds upon itself, making each level thereafter harder than the previous one. You will get to levels that are very challenging and require a fair amount of planning to complete. The beginning levels are really easy to get into and learning different strategies which will help you later on is enjoyable. Players start RGB Express by drawing a path for one red truck to pick up a red block and then deliver it at the house. This makes up the base gameplay of delivering the correct colored truck to the correct colored block and house. In later levels, players have to plan out their paths more carefully to avoid running trucks into each other or delivering the wrong colored block to the wrong house. The further players get in RGB Express, the more complicated the puzzles get and later levels throw obstacle in the player's way like bridges and buttons which can lower or raise a bridge. Some levels have multiple bridges that require players to think about which path will result in the correct bridge being raised. For instance, if players hit an orange button which raises the orange bridge before hitting the red button to raise a red bridge that is before the orange bridge, the truck may run into the red bridge and players would have to retry the level. Another item that adds to the fun is the target icon that when tapped and a truck goes over the space, it will drop the last block it picked up. This is useful for some levels which require one truck pick up the wrong colored block and drop it for another truck to pick up. After some time, players will unlock the white truck which can pick up any colored block. Oftentimes players will need to pick up different blocks in a particular order to deliver them correctly. For instance, the truck picks up a red block and then a blue block, it must deliver the blue block first. Some levels have the white truck and other colored trucks, which means players will have to plan which blocks to pick up with which trucks. This makes for exciting planning and puzzle solving. If the level is too hard to solve, players have five hints they can use which fills in some of the path. More hints can be obtained with an in app purchase. RGB Express includes 240 levels, spanning six different sets which can be unlocked with coins players earn by completing levels. Each level set has four cities named for real world cities like Montreal and Seattle. This adds a little charm to already solid gameplay. On the city select screen, each city is represented by a colorful building with 10 windows and one sky light. Each window represents a level in the city and will light up if a player has completed that level. The sky light illuminates when all of the levels in that city have been completed. This is a very interesting way to show visually how many levels are in each city and whether or not player have completed all of the levels yet. Also on the city select screen, a little red truck sits on the road in front of the buildings and stays on the left side of the screen when players swipe through the menu in sequential order. When players swipe the opposite direction, the truck switches to the right side of the screen as if the truck is revisiting the cities. This is a cool way to show where players are in each menu and makes something as simple as a selection screen a lot more visually entertaining. The amount of detail that went into RGB Express is very apparent in every interaction players have with the game, in the UI and in the solid puzzle design. RGB Express is US$2.99 on the App Store and highly recommended.
Former Last Guardian devs' teaser trailer is so Vane
Friend and Foe Games offered a teaser trailer for one of its two introductory games this week, Vane. The Tokyo Game Show 2014 trailer shows the game's desert-and-ruins environment, following a bird in flight before observing a shadowy sprinting child. The team of five at Friend and Foe Games includes credits on Team Ico's The Last Guardian, Bionic Commando, Battlefield 3 and the Killzone series. Head past the break to check out the trailer. Announced in June, the game's youthful character has an "odd ability" and is stuck in a "strange land." While the trailer doesn't shed any light on Vane's setting other than it being prone to severe lightning strikes, the child does appear to leap off a platform and morph into a bird near the end of the video. Vane is in development for PC with other consoles to follow and does not currently have a release date. [Image: Friend and Foe Games]
Fuel Burner hovers and lands
Fuel Burner is a free game currently available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch and is optimized for iPhone 5. The goal of the game is to land all the helicopters in each level on landing pads marked with an "H" and landing on roofs in between to get there. By clicking on the helicopter, you can begin to move from one roof to another by clicking on them until you reach your landing. A user cannot land on the same roof twice and must use exactly the number of fuel power ups before landing on the helipads. This game does not allow a user to purchase more fuel. However, the user is encouraged to tell friends about the game in exchange for more 10 power up units. That seems fair enough and a pretty good way for the developer to get the word out about the game without having to pay for advertising. The graphics are very basic. For a free game that does not have any in app purchases available, expectations are pretty low anyways but they are quite underwhelming. The graphics seem to be for boys under the age of 12. 90 degree angles, basic color palette, and simple 3D graphics make it seem like it's a game targeted towards a "Lego" demographic. I could see kids between the ages of 5 and 12 finding this app visually appealing. I personally know a lot of kids who are big fans of helicopters and would be interested in giving this game a try. There are three difficulty settings - "Beginner" allows a user an unlimited amount of time to land all of the helicopters. "Intermediate" gives a 5 minute time limit, and expert provides only 3 minutes. I don't consider myself to be an expert player by any means, but I beat all of the levels even on the expert setting with very little difficulty. This game is not challenging but is a good way to pass the time on a train or while waiting in line. It doesn't require much focus especially on the beginner setting which does not have a time limit. The app describes itself as "A 5-star FUN strategic challenge, just don't get addicted!!" Very cute reverse psychology tactic, but didn't work on me. I like a game to be more challenging and dynamic. Every level is pretty much the same appearance wise and the only real obstacle is time. The number of fuel power-ups I think is supposed to be an obstacle but it's too easy to work around to be considered one in my opinion. Fuel Burner might be incredibly easy for some, but less experienced game players might find it very addictive. Helicopter fans of all ages, try it out but just don't get addicted!
MigmO is fun, but doesn't stand out in a crowd
MigmO is a free action puzzle game where you aid the single-celled titular character to the goal. The game works on all iOS devices running iOS 7.0 or later. This is a game that is fun enough, but is not groundbreaking. At the beginning of each level, MigmO stands still for a few seconds, long enough for you to figure out how to use a combination of a ladder, a hammer, a stool, and a sign (used for turning him around) to guide MigmO away from certain peril, and towards the goal (a door). Each level begins with about 3 seconds before MigmO springs to action. The first few levels are essentially a tutorial, instructing you how to use each of the tools to complete each level. After you are finally on your own, without help, the game just really doesn't change much. It's a fairly repetitive game with the puzzles getting slightly more difficult as you go on. Some frustration springs from having such a short time to try to figure out the puzzle, having him go ahead and start walking while you've barely had time to survey the scene and figure out just what to do. One could argue that this adds to the challenge, and maybe so, but I would like a little more time to think everything out. The graphics are fine, with a look nostalgic for the days of the 8-bit condole gaming, but much cleaner. Overall, I don't hate MigmO, I just don't feel there is anything that helps it separate from other puzzle games available on the market. Everyone has their own preferences, and I'd recommend at least giving this a shot to see if it draws you in.
Light in the Dark is a bright addition to puzzle games
Light in the Dark is an adorable puzzle game where players control brightly colored characters called Totems on their quest to find their children. Each level consists of moving one or more Totems, which shine a colorful beam of light in all directions. Players will need to use objects like walls and boxes to avoid hitting monsters with the light. However, you'll also need to shine light on the Totem children and stars. Players can get up to three stars in each level and unlocking packs of levels along with certain challenge levels. Light in the Dark is compatible with iOS devices running iOS 5.1 or later. A cute theme runs through Light in the Dark with bright colors, adorable character design, and gentle bouncing animations on the characters. This style is highly reminiscent of the art and UI style of Cut the Rope. Opening the game for the first time, there is a feeling of familiarity when looking at the art style and level select screens. The puzzle gameplay, however, is very different as players start out trying to get the correct colored light to shine on the child with that color. In some later levels, players have to blend colors to make the correct shade to match the child. Puzzle designs vary with easy levels where players use a box to block light from hitting a monster. Later hard stages include bouncing light off of mirrors, directing light toward switches to open doors while simultaneously trying to get all the stars in the level. The puzzles have good pacing, not too hard to solve early on and players get to build up skills to beat tougher levels as they go on. Each level offers a different challenge and obstacles that make solving the puzzles even more challenging but retains the fun aspect of each puzzle. Currently, there are 96 levels to play through, including 16 challenge levels spanning one world. These levels are a lot of fun and provide a nice variety of puzzle concepts for players to try and master. Players are awarded achievements, such as when they complete a pack of levels or get three stars in each level. Light in the Dark has Game Center support which means players can compete against their friends to see who is the puzzle master. If a level is too challenging for players, they can use a hint which shows where an object or character should go. These hints are very useful if players feel stuck on a level. By watching ads, players can get more hints if they don't want to pay for hints. Another useful feature is color blind mode which is great for making the game fun for people who might have trouble distinguishing between the colors. Players can pick from four different color modes: default, deuteranopia, protanopia, and tritanopia. The last three modes are helpful for players who are red-green color blind or blue-yellow color blind. Light in the Dark is a fun puzzle game with an interesting game mechanic of using lights to solve puzzles. Light in the Dark is US$1.99 on the App Store and recommended for players who enjoy adorable puzzle games like Cut the Rope.
Perfect Flick is perfectly frustrating
Perfect Flick is a free puzzle game for iOS. This is a puzzle game that is intended for gamers looking for another addictive phone game. Using a simple flick, the game introduces challenging levels that can hook a seasoned gamer or frustrate a novice endlessly. It is currently only available for iOS devices including iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The game has various levels that a user can access after completion. A user begins with free 20 flicks (turns) and is awarded up to 5 flicks for each level completion. There are in app purchases available - a user can buy 20 flicks for 99 cents, 100 flicks for 2.99, and 500 flicks for 9.99. Some of the levels are very visually appealing and conceptually fun. However, other levels seem very out of place. For example, the first few levels include flicking a car towards a brick wall without crashing and flicking a coin towards a ledge without allowing them to fall. Then there's level 7, in which the player is instructed to flick some toilet paper so that it reaches "50 centimetres". What? That seems very random - why would anyone flick toilet paper? Why 50 centimeters? This level made me start to lose interest and I felt that this game was a bit of a joke. I don't see players feeling compelled to purchase flicks to complete a level involving flicking toilet paper rolls. The game describes itself as a game with "precision flicking puzzles." Precision is correct. It is extremely challenging to get through even a few levels with the mere 20 flicks that come with the free app. After the 20 flicks are used, users are encouraged to buy more flicks or completely start over. Other puzzle games (like Angry Bird) usually allow a free user to have more time to familiarize themselves with the game before encountering a "game over" scenario. Losing quickly can be pretty frustrating for the casual player who typically does not buy add-ons within a game. The challenging aspect of it could help to bring in loyal users who do intend to purchase more flicks to continue playing the game and experience new puzzles. For novice players, this game could prove to be too challenging to pursue beyond playing for a day or two. If there were more flicks included in a free turn it would be much less frustrating. 20 flicks barely gets a brand new user through the first three levels. Perfect Flick does not have the capacity to be as addictive as other puzzle games on the market currently, but it is still worth a try. It's a fun game that does require some skill and practice and I do see myself playing Perfect Flick again at some point when I am really bored. I don't really have a burning desire to flick toilet paper though.
Punfound is the puniest game around
Punfound is an intriguing word game all about puns. Players tap letters from a selection at the bottom of the screen to fill in the missing word to complete the pun. There are 150 puns to solve that range in difficulty from easy common puns to hard with less known puns. Punfound is compatible with iOS devices running iOS 4.3 or later. Punfound has you trying to solve as many puns as you can to gain ranks, such as Pun Wannabe. This is a really entertaining part of the game as you feel compelled to keep solving the puns to see your next rank. It gives way to great opportunities for competing with friends as well as cooperative play. Oftentimes, players find themselves going up to their friends and showing them the pun they solved, which makes others want to solve puns with them. Punfound offers the option to reach out to friends on Facebook or Twitter for help solving a particular pun, a really nice use of social media. Competitive play would also be a lot of fun with this type of game but unfortunately there is no Game Center support. It is weird that there is no form of competitive play as it fits so nicely into the ranking system and it would be really fun to see if you can beat your friend's rank as Pun Squire for example. Even a multiplayer mode either, local or online, would be a really fascinating feature. Oftentimes players find themselves taking turns with friends on which puns to solve. Punfound also doesn't feature a time element, so you don't feel pressured to solve a pun in a certain amount of time. This doesn't cause any problems for the gameplay being interesting and engaging. Solving the puns themselves is the real challenge. Solving the puns is very rewarding as there is a sense of accomplishment each time a player completes the missing word correctly. This is especially apparent when some of the puns are super easy to solve and others will have you racking your brains over the solution. The harder the puns are, the more rewarding solving them is. The pacing in Punfound feels pretty sound as you usually encounter one pun that is really hard, followed by a few easier ones. The game builds up to harder and harder puns, while giving some breathing room in between to give your brain a little rest. If the pun you are trying to solve is too hard, there are some hints you can get by exchanging hint points. Hints cost a different amount of hint points depending on which hint you choose. Removing a letter from the selection area costs two points and is a helpful if you are just trying to narrow down choices. Revealing a letter costs three points and it is a lot more helpful if you are really having trouble solving the pun. The last hint is to solve the pun, but it costs 15 hint points. You start out with 15 hint points, but when those run out the main ways of getting hint points is by buying them through in app purchases or by watching a quick ad for one hint point. However, there is no counter that tells you how many hint points you can get by watching the ads and at some point the option becomes unavailable. Some games allow you to come back the next day and be able to watch ads again for points. In Punfound, it was still not an option after a full day. This is a problem for people who don't want to spend money on hint points, but are having trouble solving the puns. It can causes players to feel stuck. The puns are interesting and each one has a cute picture which can help some players solve it when having trouble. There is however, one level that trips a lot of players up and just needs the selection letters to be fine tuned. The level with the sleepy bicycle has all the letters for two different answers where both answers make sense. It is just a matter of spelling the second word differently. If the letter "i" was removed from this level, players would be able to solve the pun much easier. Punfound is a great word game full of fantastic puns that challenge players and creates opportunities for teamwork and competition. Punfound is free on the App Store and with so many puns it is definitely worth the download.
It's dragon popping time in Dragon Poppers
Dragon Poppers is a puzzle game where you try to clear the board of dragons by setting off a chain reaction eliminating other dragons in a horizontal and vertical pattern. The game starts out with 105 levels in the first pack, but there are over 800 levels able to be unlocked by either playing through the other levels or by using gems. Dragon Poppers is playable on iOS devices running iOS 4.3 or later. Players pop dragons one at a time and each dragon explodes horizontally and vertically, which causes other dragons to explode. There are different colored dragons which take more to pop completely. For instance, the red dragons only take one hit to explode but the yellow dragons need two hits. This creates a challenge for players to tap the right dragons, causing the right chain reaction to wipe out all of them. Dragon Poppers features good use of sound effects, such as when you pop a dragon it makes a cute popcorn popping sound. The art style also echoes this cute theme with bright colors and exaggerated eyes on the dragons. The difficulty of the puzzles in Dragon Poppers is frustratingly hard at times. The pacing feels weird as in one round, the puzzle is simple to solve but the next puzzle is really hard. You may spend a good five minutes trying different strategies just to get through it. There are hints that players can get, but they are limited and you have to use gems to get more hints. The power ups available in the game are more helpful than the hints most of the time. The power ups are helpful, but they cost a lot for most players and deter people from using them very often. However, players can replay levels to get more gems to afford power ups in the troublesome level. This helps a little but players don't feel like they are progressing if they are forced to go back to lower levels. A full screen ad pops up occasionally, which is rather annoying and detracts from the gameplay. This causes players to become more frustrated with the already difficult levels. Dragon Poppers is free on the App Store, but the difficulty level will need tweaks to make the game worthwhile for casual gamers. If you are looking for a challenging puzzle game and don't mind feeling stumped at times, try it out.
Final Fantasy creator sees mobile success in download numbers
Hironobu Sakaguchi's name is credited with leading and assisting in the creation of many games over the years, from Final Fantasy to The Last Story, Chrono Trigger to Parasite Eve. The veteran designer announced his latest project in July, an action-RPG-puzzle game for iOS and Android called Terra Battle, before showing it off at PAX Prime earlier this month in Seattle. At its heart, Terra Battle is more RPG than puzzler, but it looked like a card game-style sidequest from a Final Fantasy entry more than anything else. In it, players slide card-like icons that represent their team of fighters to a battle grid, each with a mess of unique skills and abilities. One turn consisted of selecting a teammate, then gliding it on the grid, pushing teammates around before settling in a spot within four seconds. Depending on the enemies it was adjacent to and the fellow fighters it lined up with, it initiated individual and team attacks and spells. Within seconds, damage numbers, detailed character designs and ability names flashed on the screen in quick succession. The data stream was immediately overwhelming, then it evaporated from the screen. None of it made a lick of sense, yet the slide-and-move-on action was innate and enjoyable enough to encourage continued play.
Star Clash: Battle by connecting the dots
Star Clash is an exciting puzzle combat game with a gorgeous anime art style. You connect stars to form shapes you can use to attack opponents with or heal yourself. There are a number of special stars which help players, but the challenge is to not cross lines when making a shape and avoiding bad stars which hurt players. Star Clash offers players a myriad of enemies to battle with from small bots to fierce creatures, six characters to play as, and eight different environments. Star Clash is compatible with iPhone 3GS and up, iPad, and iPod touch 3rd generation and up running iOS 4.0 or later. Arcade mode is the main play mode where you select an enemy to battle against and manage your health along with your attacks. Players can level up characters with skill points after earning enough XP from battles in arcade mode or in the game's second mode, endurance. Endurance mode is where your character is thrown into a random stage where they must try to make as many connected stars as possible within a time limit. This mode is helpful for leveling up your character so you can face off against stronger opponents. Players have the option to spend their skill points on leveling up a character's defense, damage, or luck. The higher the damage a character can deal to an opponent, the faster they can take out that enemy. However, defense is also important as enemies later on in Star Clash are much more powerful and can defeat your character quickly. The luck stat doesn't seem to do much for players as it is hard to tell how luck works in the game. A quick popup explaining what each upgrade does would be a nice addition for new players. Players start out with one character to play as, one enemy to battle with, and one environment to fight in. Additional enemies, characters, and stages become available for purchase with the in game currency, star coins. This helps prevent players from competing against enemies who are much stronger than them. Each purchase is more important as you have to make choices between getting a new character or enemy. For the most part, getting enough star coins to afford the next enemy or character is not that hard, but it does require some replaying of either the endurance mode or the arcade mode. This gets repetitive, especially if you are tired of fighting the same beginning bot over again. However, the stars are randomized so you will have to change up your strategy each match to defeat the enemy. Special stars appear in each mode that give the player either full time, extra damage, more points, extra health, or even a star that fills your special bar a little which when full allows for a strong attack. In the arcade mode, the full time star refills the enemy's attack meter, buying yourself time to attack it without taking damage. In the endurance mode, the full time star refills the time limit bar which means you can keep making shapes leading to a high score. Not all stars are good though, black holes and astroids are also apparent in Star Clash and will damage the player if they tap on them. This adds a nice challenge to the gameplay and makes attempting bigger shapes more challenging but more rewarding when you have to watch out for harmful stars. Star Clash has Game Center support which makes competing with friends for the highest score a lot of fun and encourages players to get better at creating bigger shapes and managing the time limit. One minor problem with Star Clash is that the sensitivity of swiping through the environment select screen is a bit high, making it hard for players to select the stage they want. This is only slightly annoying and if players use more careful swiping this is not a problem. The anime art style of Star Clash is really interesting and feels appropriate for the battle gameplay. Environments in the game are fairly bright and vivid incorporating a similar color palette throughout. This helps form a cohesive bond between each environment, even though the places are very different. This makes Star Clash feel more unified overall and more memorable. Star Clash has a nice balance of challenge and enjoyability with great opportunities for addictive gameplay. Star Clash is free on the App Store and worth the download if you are looking for a fun addictive game full of fantastic art.
Fflp!: A beautiful match for artistic gamers
Fflp! is a beautiful simple mix and match game for children with a strong artistic feel to it. It appeals to children with different people combinations that can be made by swiping through the three rows which represent the head, body, and legs of the character, making for a fun experience that sparks creativity. Fflp! is compatible with iOS devices running iOS 7.0 or later. Players create crazy mash-ups of the four characters, or more normal looking characters by swiping left or right on each row. There are three rows to make selections in: the head, the body, and the legs. It is really easy to create an interesting person just by changing up the head. Shaking the device changes the background to one of four different colors which livens up the repetitive gameplay. Physically shaking the device to initiate change is interesting and is a lot of fun especially for children. After creating a character, players can choose to save their creations, send them to friends, or even post to social media. This extends the game a little bit and the easy to use nature of Fflp! makes it great for sharing with others. The mix and match gameplay feels a little repetitive and stale after awhile with only four characters. There are three additional characters you can purchase which adds some more variety to the base selection, however, that doesn't add that much to the gameplay. Having more characters from the beginning or a randomize button would be a nice inclusion and add a lot of replay value to the base game. Fflp! exhibits a painterly art style which is a lovely addition to the mix and match game play. The art style brings attention to the humorous nature of the mashups in a somewhat sophisticated manner. This is thoroughly enjoyable and this beautiful art style keeps you playing to see all of the intricate details each character possesses. Fflp! features a great parental control option called the "parental gate" which helps prevent unintended in app purchases. When you tap on either the plus button or the send button at the bottom of the app, a message pops up asking parents to tap the text to continue and tap elsewhere to dismiss the message. The only problems with this option as it stands is that children may just ignore the gate but that can't be helped that much, and that when you tap anywhere in the pop up box, you are presented with the options the parental gate is trying to prevent from being accessible by children. This could be prevented by either telling users to tap outside of the box or by making the options only open when you tap a button. Fflp! is focused more toward entertaining children than toward adults but adults can still have fun mixing up the characters for a laugh just don't expect the game to entertain you for hours. If you want a quick game to brighten your day or give to your kids to entertain them for a little while, pick up Fflp! on the App Store for free.
Unwrapping Folds: what's inside?
Folds is a triangular tile puzzle game where you select a tile and try to line it up with another tile of the same color, but the opposite shape. Together they make a square where you can then fold one of the tiles over to create a shape that will match another tile. Players can choose from six different yarn characters to play as and compete with friends and family on the same device to get the highest score for their character. Folds is compatible with iOS devices running iOS 6.1 or later. After players choose a character to use, they see a grey board with triangular tiles on them, two tiles will be next to each other forming a square at a random spot on the board. This is to help players understand how the game works. Your goal is to create these squares and fold one triangle over the other in one direction to reduce it to one triangle. For example, you see a green square made up of two triangles, there is a lone triangle elsewhere on the board that takes up the top left corner of a square, your goal would be to take the top left corner of the square with the two triangles and fold it down toward the bottom right corner to make a bottom right corner triangle which will match with the lone triangle. The levels become increasingly harder the further you get into the game. You will have to keep track of the shape of the triangles needing matches, the color of those triangles, and where to move each triangle to make it into the square. If you mess up and make the last two triangles of the same color the same shape, like two yellow top left corner triangles, the game will end. This makes the game incredibly difficult when you are determined to beat your high score and even more difficult when you play by yourself. Playing with other people in a turn based fashion on the same device is an interesting idea, but it might be more fun to be able to compete against others on your own time without having to be in the same room at the same time as the other players. Perhaps some online capability or even game center integration would help keep the game from being too hard and enhance the usage of the cute yarn characters, as playing with other people is a main feature in the game. Folds is hard for new players to get into. It can be a bit confusing how the triangle tiles move and how to win. Once you get past a few levels, the controls become very simple and it is easier to get past the first 5 levels. After about level 12, however, things start to feel a bit repetitive and mentally exhausting to continue, especially if you have trouble in the earlier levels. The gameplay feels addictive but the longer you play Folds, the harder it is to get through. You are having to constantly be keeping in mind how the triangles fold. You'll be avoid having the last two of the same colored tiles being the same shape, while also trying to pair up different colored tiles with different shapes. The levels also tend to get longer as there are more tiles to fit into place. Folds features a really nice tutorial which explains the gameplay for beginners, but this style of gameplay really requires some hands on training to fully understand how it all works. The tutorial also uses a different art style from what you see in the actual game. This is a little weird as the art style in the tutorial fit really well with the yarn characters. There is also no clear indication of how to restart the game when you get a game over, which is not explained in the tutorial. This increases the amount of frustration players experience when they fail to fold the tiles correctly. Folds is an extremely difficult game and while the gameplay idea of triangular tiles is interesting, it could use some other features like game center or an online mode to make Folds more enjoyable. Folds is US$1.99 on the App Store and I would not recommend it.
Cubot is a fun, minimalist puzzler
For fans of shape-based slide puzzles, such as the Rubick's Cube and Tetris will enjoy Cubot. This game, at it's core, is simply rolling cubes around on a grid of squares, to a square that corresponds with a cube's color (the basic cubes are blue). But the difficulty comes in as cubes are added. Different colored cubes move in different ways. Even trickier, you can't simply move one cube -- all the cubes move, every time, which demands strategy and and thinking ahead. The game is broken up into 10 Episodes, each comprised of 10 puzzles. Many of the puzzles have interesting names, such as "Cube Orgy," "I love you," "Indiana Jones," and "Green Power Ranger," which I came to look forward to, as I made my way into upper levels. The increase in difficulty is gradual through the 5th episode, with the occasional introduction of new blocks that behave in different ways, and new apparatuses, such as elevators, split levels, and portals to other parts of the board. Difficulty takes a sharp turn upwards in the 7th episode. The real success in this game is its minimalism. Boards are simply comprised of grids of squares, free floating in white space. You can adjust the view of the board with simple one- and two-finger controls, and the 3D rotation of the board is very clean and exciting. Along with the minimal looks of this game is a beautiful, minimal soundtrack of ambient piano, reminiscent of Brian Eno's "Music For Airports." If there's a drawback with this game, it would be potential for repeat plays. While several of the later puzzles are challenging more than once, many of the puzzles are easily remembered. That said, the game does track your personal best, with the goal (like in traditional puzzles) being to solve in the fewest number of moves. As a whole package, this beautiful, minimal game is a ton of fun, gorgeous, and worth every bit of the $US.99 you pay for it, especially for those trying to expand their mind with very few bells and whistles.
Wordrix is a fun puzzle, but a puzzling game
Wordrix is available for iPhone and iPad, optimized for iPhone 5, requiring iOS 6 or later. A kind of Scrabble for the iPhone lover, it is free but features an in-app store where the user can purchase coins to unlock different features (base pack starting at US0.99). This is a fun pastime that will predominately appeal to the casual gamer, but its increasing complexity will also find a niche among experienced and determined gamers. However, there are a number of oddities that may give players of all levels pause. Meant to appeal to lovers of word games and puzzles, Wordrix features 72 levels of increasing and diverse challenges, divided into different chapters. Players must create words by dragging their finger across lettered tiles. Only connecting tiles can be used, and each letter is assigned a particular numerical point value. The player is supposed to score a certain number of points per level, and words should be chosen wisely, as the number of moves per level are limited. In addition to rationing movements, players must also incorporate various challenges into game play, such as using all of the tiles covered by split ink. Wordrix also features "powerups," including the ability to erase a tile (replaced with a new letter), swap any two tiles, and be shown a high-scoring word. Differently colored tiles feature bonuses, such as doubling or tripling the value of a letter or an entire word. Upon the completion of a level, the player will view a screen detailing the points they won, if the time limit had to be reached, and their all-time best word and score. Within 60 seconds I was able to score over 700 points and create a word worth 180 points ("freeze"). Within each level it is possible to win a bronze, silver, or gold trophy depending on how quickly the player wins the necessary number of points and in how many moves. Here, perhaps I could have been a little faster or a little more ingenious with my movements, as I only scored a bronze trophy. Players have the option of viewing each chapter's levels as a whole upon completion. The highest-attained trophy is displayed along with any specifics of the particular level, such as its move limit (shown in the lower right-hand corner) whether it involved inked tiles or was timed. Clicking non each book will show more details, as well as an option to replay the level. The iTunes description said the game was addicting, and that was certainly true! As a lover of words and language, I had to call upon both my extensive mental library and my powers of logic to figure out how to maneuver the highest-scoring words in sometimes very intricate ways. Still, despite the clever idea, attractive graphics, and streamlined interface, there were several issues which left me scratching my head. I did not expect the game to have an Oxford English Dictionary level of linguistic finesse, but some of its word choices puzzled me. For example, two-letter words such as "no," "is," or "on" are not allowed, but what I first assumed were proper names ("Ben," "Tom," and "Lea") were actually extremely obscure words. Another was a form of Japanese currency. This did not really hurt my overall gameplay, but the seeming randomness made the game exceptionally confusing and less fun. A far greater critique is the in-app store. While playing, I could not figure out why some of the powerups were being offered but were unusable. A closer look revealed the store was to purchase coins to use in the game to buy different features (including critical powerups). In fact, it was my lack of further powerups coupled with my unwillingness to shell out almost $3 for fake coins that made me stop the game after level 16. Making players pay good money for fake coins risks alienating players who appreciate the game's ingenuity and challenge, but are not committed enough to buy in-game coins. Overall, Wordirx is a neat little game, a brainteaser for the electronically literate. Its seemingly obscure word choices and its play-crushing requirement to spend real money in exchange for fake (but progression-necessitating) money make it a puzzle in ways I doubt the creator intended.
Circle the Dot: A simple puzzle game that will make you scream
I hate Circle the Dot, but just spent three hours playing it. This simple puzzle game gives you a grid full of orange dots and one lonesome blue dot. Your goal is to circle the blue dot with orange dots in as few moves as possible. Only the blue dot is an evil, slippery monster. It doesn't want to be trapped. The blue dot moves, and it will almost always escape. Circle the Dot doesn't force a time limit upon you, so if you use enough strategy you'll be making your way up the included leaderboards in no time. Or you won't, because strategy will only take you so far when trapping the insidious blue dot. There are no secondary goals, no side quests. Every time you restart the map randomizes, leaving you to imagine strategies without ever encountering a way to utilize them. The game features occasional pop up ads. They're easy to ignore and give you a break from hating that stupid blue dot. I hate Circle the Dot, but I cannot stop playing it. Neither will you. You can find it for free in the iTunes Store.
Fall under the spell of Spellfall
Spellfall (free with in-app purchases) is a puzzle game with RPG elements where you try to match three or more tiles to damage enemies. Players have a certain number of turns to defeat enemies. If they fail to do so, the enemies take their turn to attack. When you run out of health, the battle ends and you're awarded with coins and points. Of course, if you win you get more. Spellfall is compatible with iPhone 4S and up, iPad 3rd generation and up, iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPod touch 4th generation and up. Spellfall requires iOS 5.0 or later. Spellfall is a puzzle game with gameplay reminiscent of Puzzle & Dragons, but with more RPG elements such as an item inventory system and spells instead of monsters. Players can use coins to purchase armor, weapons and spells. For example, if you purchase and equip the heal spell equipped, you need to match water tiles to power it up and use it to heal yourself. This spell was very helpful in a lot of the battles. You can equip multiple spells which means you will have to switch out which one is active in order for it to use it. Some spells can be used offensively and others are used defensively like the poison spell. The power of these spells felt appropriate for each level. The heal spell was the most helpful in a lot of cases but there were times where more offensive abilities would be best. After defeating enemies, items are unlocked in the store which you can purchase with virtual coins. After making a "purchase," you must equip that item to use it. Parts of the inventory's user interface are hard to understand because they are not very intuitive. The blue cross button on the right side of the screen is confusing as it is used to show you what items you have equipped, but we can also see this on the inventory page itself. The small box at the bottom of the screen is also a little confusing as its shape suggests you can spin the words to cycle through them, but instead it is a tap function. It can be difficult to progress in Spellfall when you are badly injured through battles with enemies. As your health is very low, you are even more susceptible to every enemies' attacks. It takes a lot of decisive actions and knowledge of each enemies weakness to progress further when injured. There is an option to use coins to heal yourself but this usually wasn't something I had a lot of when playing. You can also wait a certain amount of time to be healed, but these were very long waits of 30 minutes; it didn't seem like a fair amount of time to wait. Another option is to pay real money for coins to exchange for health and keep playing. I found it hard to keep going without a lot of health but this challenge was entertaining and kept me playing in hopes of getting further. This method is not recommended for those who don't have a lot of patience or don't like doing the same battles over and over again. Spellfall is a puzzle game that challenges players to take advantage of each enemies' weakness and utilize spells in order to be victorious in the demanding battles of this tile matching game. Spellfall is available on the App Store for free and is recommended for people who are looking for more challenges in their puzzle games.
Puzzlfy is great fun for all
Puzzlfy is an iPad only jigsaw puzzle game where you can make your own puzzles either from photos or video. There are a few options to make puzzles out of video and photos provided by the game but the real fun is taking your own photos and making puzzles out of them. Puzzlfy works on iPads running iOS 7.0 or later. Players can choose to either make a puzzle out of the stock videos or images or use their personal photos and videos. This is a great feature that shows the customization options available. Stickers are also available to be used on each puzzle which adds another layer of fun and keeps puzzles from getting boring as there are numerous different combinations for each image and video. When you use your own photos, the replay value becomes virtually endless. There are four different difficulty levels to choose from in Puzzlfy: super easy, easy, medium, and hard. This is great for broadening the age groups that can play this game. Super easy and easy are very similar modes with the only difference being that in super easy mode pieces still snap into place even if you don't get the piece exactly in the right location. Another way of changing the difficulty is by toggling the puzzle silhouettes and puzzle piece outlines on or off. This brings new challenges to the typical jigsaw puzzle especially when you don't have outlines to follow. The difference in difficulty between medium and hard was rather abrupt when compared to the difficulty increase between easy and medium. Hard mode has a lot more pieces and at times it is difficult to see the puzzle outlines to know where to put pieces. However, the puzzles are still enjoyable at every level. At the time of reviewing, there is a section that says "more videos coming soon." Currently, there are only two videos provided by the Puzzlfy, so more videos are a welcome addition. Another feature that is a little bit lacking in amount are the stickers; currently there are only four categories to choose from and the "more stickers!" button at the top does not do anything at the moment. The stickers could also use the ability to resize them as they would meld better with the pictures in the background if you could scale them and maybe even rotate them. This gives more personality to each puzzle but even without this addition, Puzzlfy is still a very fun game. Puzzlfy is definitely geared toward children with its playground music and occasional "hello" sound effect. The bright yellow buttons and purple background similarly echo this kid friendly vibe. However, adults can still have fun with Puzzlfy especially when you take into account all of the different puzzles you can make from your own photos. It is great for people who want a creative use for the photos they have taken besides just posting to their walls. Puzzlfy is available for free on the App Store. Whether you are a parent wanting a fun game to entertain your child or an adult just wanting a whimsical puzzle game to unwind with, you will still enjoy Puzzlfy.
