Graphics-wise this game holds its own against the slew of Bejeweled and Zuma clones already out their on the market. Although there are not many, there is some really nice animations and the whole package is lovingly polished. Tomb Breaker’s jewel collecting narrative is told through the eyes of a young Tomb raider called Aria Brite. It’s slightly familiar territory but to be honest, it’s all about the puzzles as apart from a cartoon girl and a voice over intro there is no real story or progression through a narrative.

The games main mechanic is matching the same colored jewels with each other that are horizontal or vertical to each other (not diagonal). The jewels do not need to be directly next to each other and you can connect multiple gems in a single swipe. It’s easy to get the hang of but difficult to master. Extra bonus points are given when you connect the entire collection of a single colour or if you cross your own lines. Each round lasts 60 seconds and you not only collect points but special gems which act as currency to buy power ups.

The Power Ups

The power ups come in five styles:
– double points
– 10 more seconds
– lighting mode
– double crossover points
– +1 to all matches

The game is very addictive and it wasn’t long before I had earned my ‘Played 50 games’ gamecentre achievement. Some rounds everything goes your way and you are clearing colours, crossing the lines and stacking up a pile of special jewels to use to buy powers ups and other times you have difficulty getting three gems to line up. This is a great pick up and play game that you can dip in and out of as you please.

The Issues

There is however, a few issues that stops this game reaching the top score and top of that list is the cost of the power ups. I played well over 50 games and earned enough to buy one of the power ups. I eagerly purchased the ’10 more seconds’ power up thinking that more time would lead to more points and more prizes. For a short time (about two rounds) this was true but them the power up was removed and I was left having to play another 50+ games to attempt to earn another one. Of course you can buy booster packs to gain extra currency ($1.99 will get you 100,000 and power ups cost between 3000 – 7000) am I did buy one pack in order to test out the other powers up (as well as support the developer as it was a free game) but I was a little annoyed.

I have spent the week playing and playing and although I still think this is a great game, many gamers will lose interest with it after a while as there is no story or quest mode, and you are ulytimately playing the same board over and over. If there was a steady progression of obstacles, enemies, boosters and general forward movement then this would score better on the longevity front. As it stands however, you may be like me and really enjoy playing it but ultimately stop playing after a while for lack of progression. If you enjoy playing over Facebook and challenging friends then it will last longer but if you are just after a fun puzzler in those ‘quiet times’ then you may be disappointed later down the road.

Overall

Overall this is a highly polished and hugely addictive game marred by over ambitious in app purchasing expectations and limited story line and progression. As its free I would definitely recommend downloading it but if you are stingier gamer who doesn’t like shelling out for in-app purchases then don’t get too excited about the power ups as you will only get to use them one in fifty games.

Related articles

• App of the Week: Tomb Breaker
• TA Plays: ‘Tetris Blitz’ – EA Goes Free to Play With This Classic Block Stacker
• Six iOS apps you’ll thank me for (you’re welcome)
• Atlantis Breaker HD – Brick Breaker Game for iPhone
• Link The Cute Creatures Together And Rack Up The Points In Celulo

The post Review: Tomb Breaker | iOS appeared first on AppTrawler.

Little Viking follows the trials and tribulations of one little Viking as he roams from room to room collecting gold and keys before being allowed to move on, simple right? Traversing the dungeon is done by rotating the entire room. As gravity takes hold you are able to access different parts of the level in order to complete your tasks. Along the way you will encounter enemies and obstacles such as monsters, spikes, and gas all out to stop you. Boulders and rolling rocks are used as both obstacles and tools to solve the puzzles of which there are approximately 100 to trawl through. The learning curve is gradual but you will find yourself stuck on the odd level for decidedly longer than the average level.

The graphics are simple and cute with minor animation in the flaming torches, and although these are great it wouldn’t hurt to have some animation on the main character when he walks. The death animation is reminiscent of the classic retro game Rick Dangerous which always brings a smile to my face. The silhouette style level design means there are little or no loading times but with 100 levels I was hoping for more than different hues of wall colour delineate the 10 different zones.

Music and sound effects are solid and the Viking battle scream as the hero enters the vortex is both sweet and amusing.

Gameplay is straightforward and uses four buttons, left, right, rotate left and rotate right and although they are responsive and easy to use they could benefit from being a little bigger. I sometimes found myself falling down a chasm hoping to pull right only to be impaled on spikes and my thumb just to the side of the button. The games instructions need to be discovered through trial and error as there is little in the way of ‘how to’ screens or help bubbles but to be honest it is quite refreshing to be rid of all the chaff and unnecessary options that can bump up the file size of most mobile games.

Overall, this is a great game that is easy to play and highly addictive. What it lacks in optional extras and background diversity, it makes up for with a horde of great levels and simple pick up and play gameplay. If you are after a fun little puzzler that doesn’t take itself too seriously then your will get a good few hours of Little Viking.

The post Review: Little Viking – Dungeons of Doom | iPhone appeared first on AppTrawler.

Breakout your glow sticks

Orbital is the Geometry Wars of breakout games, with vivid glowing neon colors, simple lined graphics and particle effects galore. This game appears on the surface, to be really simple to play, the player uses a trajectory cannon to fire balls onto the play area. Once settled in their final resting place they expand until they touch a surface, be it either the sides of the game area or another orb. These orbs of varying sizes each start with a number on and count down with each ‘bounce’ from other orb, until finally exploding into a pixelated flurry when reaching zero. Once the orb falls below the firing line, or you find yourself penned in the game is over. There are three fantastic game modes to choose from; the standard is the Supernova mode mentioned above, Gravity mode; which adds a moving cannon as well as giving the orbs their own gravitational field and finally, there is the pure mode that is essentially Gravity mode but without the gravity (a slight disappointment but still fun).

The game’s simplicity is its greatest feature as it is easy to boot up and kill a few minutes and I found it is now one of my top toilet games as it’s quick, easy to control with one hand and is different every time.

Sound wise, the game has some retro robot voices and a slew of upbeat techno tunes that all add to ambiance and style of a really solid puzzle game. This game is better than the screenshots convey and will be a worthy addition o any puzzle fans collection. For those that love games such as puzzle bobble and Geometry Wars you may have just found your next download…

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• Adrift: A New Puzzle-Game iPhone App from Denver’s Tack Mobile
• Marblie: Marbles Reinvented, a challenging little puzzle game

The post Windows Phone Review: Orbital Puzzle Game appeared first on AppTrawler.

Bloodflow is a pipemania inspired puzzle game for the iPhone and iPad. Unlike its retro inspired predecessor that follows the exploits of a plumber trying to attach water pipes together, you are tasked with attaching blood filled pipes to keep the vampire bar up and running.

The gameplay is simple enough and players tap a square on a grid in order to place a tile (or section of pipe). The upcoming pipes are all displayed on the left so you can plan your strategy accordingly. Once a tile has been placed, you can not remove it, only rotate it in 90 degree intervals. After a few seconds the blood starts flowing and you have to ensure that the start pipe is connected to the end pipe. As the blood speeds up it all gets pretty intense.

As an added element to the game, Bloodflow also has various collectables around the levels such as keys and money for extra bonuses and achievements. This gives the player extra distraction and hardcore puzzle game fans will enjoy chasing those extras.

The graphics on Blowflow are cute, simple and lovely to look at. There is lots of little animations everywhere which make the game feel well considered. The sounds and music are funny and atmospheric with some cute voices that will definitely make you smile.

As for longevity, this is where the game comes into its own. The game generates random levels so you don’t have to play through the same levels again and again. Whilst the game lacks a full narrative and end goal it offers hours of gameplay as you collect the different items and gain achievements. The random level generation also means you can quickly pick up and play it and know you will get a new challenge.

Overall, this is a very slick game. It’s simple premise is executed very well and there is lots of puzzle action you keep you busy for hours. The finish is slick as the graphics and sound set the scene perfectly. It might not have the 3D sheen and neon explosions of more modern puzzlers but it oozes retro goodness and brings back memories of the many hours spent on pipemania. Personally, I prefered playing the upscaled iPad version over the iPhone as sometime my chubby digits lost prescision under pressure but either way, its a great puzzle game from Deep Blue Apps.

The post Review: Bloodflow appeared first on AppTrawler.

There are about 10 different zones each split into 10 levels, so there is plenty of levels to play through. The levels do increase in difficulty but they do throw in a few curve balls to really stress you out. Obstacles include extra bouncy blocks that send your balls off the screen, spinning blades, lasers, doors, bombs and eventually evil space pirates.

The grunge style spaceship graphics are nice enough and do have a 3D ‘ish’ feel. The deep mechanical music has an ambient and slightly scary feel whereas the sound effect are much more modern and high tech.

The puzzle element is quite addictive as on some levels you have to bounce your Terrorball of various platforms to access the transporter, other require precision arches and some you just have to fire a tonne of balls to blast your way through.

Overall, the game is a solid a fun journey and whilst some levels are relatively easy there are some which will stump you for ages. The star collection is ok and there is an internal achievements table but this could have easily been connected to game center achievements to add an additional pull. There are plenty of levels which is good and we found it easier to play on a iPad a double the screen size. I think an iPad version of this game would be better received.

Its a solid game which will keep you entertained for a fair few hours and although it’s not the best trajectory game out there it’s well worth a play.

iTunes Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/terrorballs/id564783785?mt=8

The post Review: Terrorballs Space Puzzle Action appeared first on AppTrawler.

As I said earlier, Droplitz is a puzzle game based around moving and routing a bunch of water drops. The drops start at the top of the screen. So, the main objective is rearranging hexagonal pipe segments to facilitate the journey of water droplets from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen. There are a series of spinning dials that have different tube paths.
By altering the orbs, you try to create linked chains for the drops reach the “collectors”. The game is over once the number of drops runs out. Points are given by routing drops to the “collectors”, triggering bonus drops and the number of dials knocked out in your completed paths. The more connections you make, the more the score multiplies. Connecting pipes so that water flows from point A to point B is easy, but stringing together combinations is where you start racking up some big points. After you’ve made as many connections as you can, the tiles disappear, and in order to keep the combo going you’ve got to quickly make a new connection or lose everything.
Controls in the game is basic and easy. You just need to tap the dial to spin it. And you can make the dials move in the opposite direction by pressing a special dial.

On a side note, there are options to change the overall color schemes during gameplay, which makes the game just a little more playable, I guess.

Droplitz is the sort of puzzle game that I consider numbingly addictive. Like Tetris, Bejeweled, Hexic, or any successful game in the genre, it foregoes a flashy presentation, fixing your attention to its particular game play mechanic and lulling you into a sort of fugue state in which the only thing that makes sense is playing more.

All in all, with three gameplay modes (i.e. Normal, Hard, Free Play), Droplitz will keep you busy for a while!

The post Review : Droplitz – A fine puzzle game for iOS! appeared first on AppTrawler.

We just got word from Chillingo’s Clickgamer that an Angry Birds [App Store] update is in the works that adds 40 new levels, two new environments, and complete Crystal integration for online leaderboards, achievements, and all the other fun stuff Crystal provides. They’re planning on submitting the update “very soon”, and even released a new trailer for the game that is easily one of the better iPhone game trailers I’ve seen recently:

Angry Birds is a catapult game where you assist several angry birds as they seek revenge on a gang of egg-stealing green pigs. From our review:

Players are haphazardly tossed into a level in which several angry-looking red birds are gathered around a primitive slingshot, with a small wooden tower harboring a little green pig to the right. Touching and dragging backwards on the bird that is currently mounted in the slingshot will prime your disturbed little critter for launch. From here, your goal is to aim your shot effectively and take out a weak point on the pig’s tower, causing him to fall to his little piggy doom.

We also discussed Angry Birds in our recent podcast, and I really recommend giving the game a look, as I’ve sunk an unbelievably amount of time recently in to total pig destruction. This new update (especially with online leaderboards) is just going to make this great game even better.

App Store Link: Angry Birds, .99

The post Upcoming ‘Angry Birds’ Update Adds 40 New Levels appeared first on AppTrawler.

I-play has officially announced that its popular (5 million players and counting) PC casual puzzler Paradise Quest is on its way to iPhone.

As you might expect given the title and publisher, Paradise Quest plays a lot like Jewel Quest, with some familiar gentle match-three gameplay mixed into a loose adventure story. However, there are a few notable twists on display that mark it out as one to watch.

For one thing, play isn’t constrained to a single screen. Each level is a sprawling field of flowers and materials that must be scrolled across (by matching blocks in the appropriate direction) in order to complete each task.

There’ll also be a string of gesture-activated bonus moves, such as the shake-induced earthquake, as well as a strong focus on social play. Besides Facebook high-score connectivity the game will feature a number of multiplayer challenges, playable over wi-fi and Bluetooth.

We spent some time with the game recently, so keep an eye out for our initial impressions. Paradise Quest is set to be released some time in January, though we’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything more specific.

The post Coming Soon: Paradise Quest appeared first on AppTrawler.

A few months ago we reviewed the highly addictive match 3 game ‘Piyo Blocks’ by Big Pixel Studios.  Since the review the game has undergone some great improvements and as a Christmas Treat they have now released the game FREE over the Christmas period.

(possibly UK only)

The post Piyo Block for Free over Christmas! appeared first on AppTrawler.

From our detailed preview of the game:

Like the original game, the goal of Labyrinth 2 is to get the silver ball from the starting point to the goal while navigating walls and avoiding the holes. In the first version, that was pretty much all there was to it. Labyrinth 2, however, adds a number of new elements that graduate the game from simple wooden toy simulator to arcade game.

These elements include cannons, bumpers, doors/switches, magnets, fans, resizers, merry-go-round, duplicators, lasers and more. Navigating the levels still require careful tilt control to avoid falling to your death, but are also more puzzle/goal driven as you must also figure out how to make it to the exit. Levels are timed as before so beating your individual high scores remains the motivator to play a level again. This time, however, they’ve added a ghost ball representation of your best time for you to directly compete against.

My favorite part of Labyrinth 2 is the online level editor, available at levelpack.com where players can create their own levels which are then downloaded in game. The few included levels themselves are good, but pale in comparison to what the community has already created. In my time with the game I’ve really enjoyed myself going online each day and downloading the new level packs that other players have created. (Forum member MidianGTX has even started a thread for discussing level creation on our forum, as well as creating the Touch Arcade level seen above.)

The creativity so far has been astounding, and now that the game is out in the wild I can’t wait to see what the player base comes up with. If you’ve enjoyed labyrinth games in the past, Labyrinth 2 is a must-own. If you want to sample some of the great things in Labyrinth 2, as we posted previously, you can play 5 levels from the sequel in the recently updated original Labyrinth [.99] and Labyrinth Lite [Free].

App Store Link: Labyrinth 2, .99

Update: App seems not available in many locations. We’ll update you when it becomes available again.

The post ‘Labyrinth 2’ by Illusion Labs Released appeared first on AppTrawler.

Do you like games that mentally challenge you? Games like Concentration and Memory? If so Chromodyne is the game for you. Chromodyne is a game that mentally exercises your mind.

The object of the game is to move the spinning wheel, that is filled with multiple colored cubes, until the colors line up to match within a set amount of time. Once you vertically line up three or more matching colors, the colors fall down, and points are added to your score. Additional cubes are then added to the wheel for you to match up.  Sounds pretty easy right? Well, the difficulty comes when you’re trying  to match a certain color and there is not any cubes with that particular color.

To start the game, there are two player modes: Story Mode and Survival.  In Story Mode, the game appears to be a little bit more juvenile.  There are basically two cartoon characters discussing their plan to destroy planet earth.  It then takes you to a cartoon newscaster who is warning people of the dangers that have been posed.  In Survival Mode, you just jump right in and start playing.

You also have a settings option that allows you to change music volume, SFX volume, and allows you to totally mute the sound.  I enjoyed playing this game.  I didn’t realize how addicting it was until after I was tempted to play it while i was a passenger riding in a car to pass the time.

Serious gamers will not be as enthused with this game because it doesn’t have any ground-breaking graphics and is not a fast moving game.  The graphics don’t show off what the iPhone can do.  The background consistently stays black during gameplay, and the cubes shapes and designs do not change as you get to higher levels.   To make this game 1o stars, I would add more animation, the option to listen to your own music selection, and the ability to challenge opponents with the use of your iPhones bluetooth.   All things considered, I still recommend it.  It’s challenging and it’s a great time waster.  It’s just fun!

Developer Description:

As a Quantum Chromodynamic Cyclotron, or Chromodyne, operator, you are the last line of defense the Earth has against interstellar catastrophe! Should the planet become endangered by an asteroid, comet or some other Massive Extra-Solar Smasher (MESS for short) it is your job to use the Chromodyne to combine exotic matter, shooting it into the MESS and causing it to shrink and eventually phase out of our universe, thus saving the Earth from certain doom! The job isn’t easy (and quite possibly thankless) but saving the world seldom is.

Should there be no pending disaster, many a Chromodyne operator enjoys honing his or her skills by finding a rogue black hole and seeing how long they can keep it’s mass below a certain size.

Gameplay is a twist on the traditional match-three style, with 5 concentric rings made up of different colored shapes. You have to touch and rotate the rings and line up 3 or more of the same color and shape in a line going towards the center in order to clean up the MESS and add to your score.

Chromodyne offers two exciting play modes to keep you coming back for more:

* Story Mode describes the epic struggle between a pair of sinister aliens and you, the lone Chromodyne operator, who stands between the Earth and the MESSes that the aliens throw at it.

* Survival Mode pits you against an ever-expanding black hole. Keep it from growing too large for as long as you can!

The post Review – Chromodyne appeared first on AppTrawler.

The Bejeweled 2 ‘Blitz’ update essentially allows you to play against friends anywhere, anytime, much like the Facebook offering that was released earlier this year.

“Ultimately, social gaming is about being able to play games with and against your friends, and the new Blitz update for Bejeweled 2 on iPhone lets you play against your friends” explained John Vechey, co-founder and director of PopCap’s social gaming initiative.

Aside from the multiplayer enhancement, the Blitz upgrade also includes bonus multipliers, laser gems, star medals, realtime gem swapping and score posting on your friends’ and shared leaderboards – all additions that the Facebook Blitz version had. You can also see which of your friends are playing Bejeweled 2 if you so desire.

It sounds like a neat addition, and as many already take advantage of Facebook on their iPhone it makes sense to link apps with it in this way. Could this be the trend for other developers?

You can purchase Bejeweled 2 with the ‘Buy It!’ button for £1.79/$2.99, or use the link to get the free update.

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The basic premise behind Totemo is somewhat similar to block removal games like Mental Blocks [App Store] and the countless other games where you’re removing pieces from the game board. Each level in Totemo, of which there are over 60, poses a different arrangement of “spirits”, which you must release into the nethers by binding them to the totem ever present on the left of the screen.

Each spirit you select will light up one part of the Totem with a fully lit totem removing them from the playing field. Spirits can only be removed by selecting those in the same row or column, and so the unique twist lies with finding the correct order for discarding your spirits and clearing the level of them entirely- a feat that gets surprisingly challenging by about level 20. Without perfect execution, you will find yourself with only one or two spirits remaining, unable to bind them completely to the Totem and thus encouraged to renew your attempt.

The source of this encouragement is an endearing totemic spirit guide who walks you through the gameplay features at the beginning of the Story Mode and gradually narrates the tale as you progress through the levels. His charm is an embodiment of the excellent presentation and overall feeling of Totemo. Each level is gorgeously crafted, with different animated backdrops for each chapter of the story and lively matching objects that are introduced to ramp up the challenge.

Extra touches such as how the eyes of valid spirits focus on the player when another is selected, and how a level can be instantly restarted by shaking the device, really show off the care that has gone into Totemo’s development. Together with an interesting if quirky selection of tribal and electronic tunes to accompany each level, Totemo sports a great deal of polish for a puzzle game.

For those who are finished with the Story mode, there is also a Survival mode that has you breeze through the levels as quickly as you can on a timer, additional time being added on completion of a level. The competitive types will be pleased to note that a comprehensive online leaderboard records your scores in Survival mode, sortable by Daily, Weekly and All time scores.

Here is a teaser video released by the developer that doesn’t show any gameplay, but will give you a good idea of the atmosphere to expect in the game:

For 0.99, it is hard not to justify a look into Totemo at least, particularly if you consider yourself a puzzle fan. There is even something there for the action puzzler, with Survival mode getting quite frenetic as you race against the clock.

The post Review: Totemo appeared first on AppTrawler.

The game includes three modes of play: free play, arcade and challenge. Arcade and challenge modes are time-based games, while free play allows you to take as much time as you want to solve each puzzle. Each one is unique, so you never play the same puzzle twice. You are presented with a 7×8 grid of squares in which different colored furballs are placed. In order to win, you must fling the furballs into each other to knock them off the screen. You can only fling them vertically and horizontally. Also, you can’t just fling a furball off the screen without it hitting another one. You also can’t fling a furball into another one that it is directly touching. There is only one way to solve each puzzle, and it gets harder as you progress through the game. At first, there are only three or four furballs to eliminate. The later levels include many more furballs, making it much more difficult to figure out the correct order to fling them. You really have to think ahead a few moves to figure out the correct solution.

Each level requires you to solve a predefined number of puzzles in order to advance. If you get stuck, there is a cheat button that will offer you a clue. However, using this cheat will increase the number of puzzles you have to complete to win the level. In timed modes, the cheat will decrease the amount of time you have left to complete the puzzle. You can also use the undo button to go back one step at a time, all the way to the beginning of the puzzle if you need to. The automatic save feature allows you to quit the app and return to the game right where you left off.

One of the few problems with this game is the lack of puzzle environments. You always solve puzzles with a green grass background. It would be nice to have different scenery for each level, or the ability to customize the background with your own images. However, the furballs themselves are nicely rendered and animated beautifully. They blink, roll across the screen and bounce off each other. This, coupled with fantastic music and sound effects, creates a unique and immersive environment. Simply stated, the app is just pretty.

At times, the game may become frustrating, as some puzzles are very difficult to figure out, even on easy. There are three difficulty levels to play in, with nineteen levels in each one. This, combined with three game modes, offers a ton of content to keep you occupied for a long time. There is just something about this game that is truly addicting. It’s definitely one of the most fun puzzle games I’ve played on the iPhone to date. I strongly recommend picking this one up.

The post Review: Fling appeared first on AppTrawler.

Early this month Empty Clip Studios gave us an exclusive preview of the upcoming iPhone port of their download / retail Wii rhythm puzzle title, Groovin’ Blocks. Those anxious to get their hands on this one can now try the full [link] or lite [link] version, which went live in the App Store yesterday.

Each of Groovin’ Blocks‘ 50 levels is played to a pumping techno soundtrack with scrolling beat-indicators on either side of the screen.  Block clusters slide onto the playfield in a Tetris-like fashion, and will ultimately come to rest at the bottom of the screen.  A tap on the ‘drop’ button will quickly drop the piece into place — but if you “hit a beat” (tapping the drop button during a beat of the soundtrack) the blocks will be bigger, brighter, and worth more points.  Hitting consecutive beats without a miss increases your score multiplier — but miss a beat and it drops back to zero.  Hitting the occasional Superbeat, shown brighter in the scrolling beat display, will double your current score multiplier.

Certain blocks contain power-ups that can be collected only if you hit a beat when placing said block.  Power-ups are unleashed when the successfully placed block is destroyed by a match-three scenario.

See our preview video for a closer look.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

GameSpot calls the Wii version of Groovin’ Blocks “a music-based game like no other.”  As we said in our preview look, there’s no shortage of match-three puzzlers in the App Store, but Groovin’ Blocks’ musical / rhythm component really does set it apart from the pack.

The post Price Drop: Groovin appeared first on AppTrawler.

Wriggle is all about squirmy worms that come in a variety of colors. The only one you really care about is the blue one that must get to the exit within a certain number of moves. While the goal sounds mundane on paper, in practice, Wriggle is brain teasing at its best.

The control scheme involves your finger and the ability to drag Blue and the other worms in whatever direction. Wriggle has 4 levels of difficulty—easy, medium, hard and expert—with 80 total puzzles. In order to unlock the puzzles at the higher difficulty, you must complete 50% of the puzzles at the previous difficulty.

Each puzzle has a number of moves in which you must get Mr. Blue to the exit if you’re to receive an award. This involves strategically moving the other worms out of your way. Worms can be moved by dragging the head or the tail, and moves are counted when you drag a new worm. In terms of other features, once you’ve unlocked a set of puzzles in a difficulty level, you can choose to play any of the puzzles, skipping forward or replaying previous puzzles. Within each puzzles, a handy undo button is available so you can re-think your strategy without having to start from scratch. Plus, the game has auto save so your progress is saved regardless of where you left off.

Wriggle fits in that category of “simple to play but difficult to master”. It provides enough puzzles with a range of difficulty levels that novice and advanced puzzlers will enjoy, and provides enough to keep you coming back

The post Wriggle – A Squirmy Brain Teaser appeared first on AppTrawler.

Hell, yeah.

Such is the terrorist threat these days that people get arrested for buying a couple of bottles of blonde hair dye, so we doubt any common johnny is going to get his hands on military grade C4 and take down anything taller than a Lego bungalow.

Well, I hope….

Anyhow, if so it will be the fault of the Canadians. At least, IUGO, which has progressed from the realistic physics of its Toy Bot Diaries games to the “Watch buildings tumble with real physics!” of Implode!

Nice touch, by the way. Implode! Not Explode! Much more friendly.

Your task is “to carefully plant limited dynamite bundles in order to demo obsolete structures”.

There will be 60 levels and two types of explosives – bombs and blast bombs.

Your performance will be graded and scores will be submitted online – although there’s no mention of a known social networking technology – so this maybe a IUGO homebrew solution.

Sorry officer. A self developed online leaderboard. There are no large barrels of fertiliser here.

There will also be a sandbox cheat that gives you more bombs and in which you never fail. We’d like one of those for life, but even in Implode!, it’s high score disabled.

To gain access to this you’ll have to be IUGO VIP – in which you gain points by getting your friends to buy IUGO games – the details of which you can find here.

We can also confirm that despite our earlier speculation, there won’t be any in-app purchases in Implode!, unless – and we quote from an official source – “the game *cough* blows up and the demand for content is there”.

We are so very sorry for the poor quality of the puns.

Implode! is due to be released very soon i.e. we assume it’s been submitted already. There’s no mention of a price, but we’d reckon it will be somewhere between $1.98 and $2.00.

The post IUGO demolition sim – Implode! appeared first on AppTrawler.

The character can run out of air quickly if he does not grab the air capsules that are found throughout the level and he can also be crushed by falling blocks. Along the way players will meet different characters that will help or try to hurt your progress through.

The game was definitely fun and had a few different control options to choose from. The graphics and music were great too and overall the game was very enjoyable to play through. It definitely felt like an arcade game. NAMCO was offering Mr Driller at a very cheap price at the time of this review. I definitely recommend checking it out.

The post Review: Mr Driller appeared first on AppTrawler.

Geared starts simple and quickly progresses to levels that require pixel perfect accuracy to complete. We greatly enjoyed Geared in our review, and it even spent some time as the #1 paid app in both the USA and UK back in August.

Version 1.1 adds 40 new levels, new gameplay elements like gears that can’t move and will jam your other gears if you get near them, along with a bundle of various tweaks and bug fixes. For instance, a new interface to move gears around makes getting them in their pixel perfect positions much easier, and if you find yourself stuck on a level you can skip forward.

If you’ve enjoyed Geared, now is the time to mash “Check for Updates” in iTunes and get started on the new levels. If this is the first you’ve heard of the game, I highly recommend at least trying the free version.

If you’ve really found yourself stuck in levels 1-80, a fantastic guide was posted on the Mac Rumors forum. Just beware, this will spoil the entire pre-update game for you– Geared Levels 1-80 Walkthrough

App Store Links: Geared, 99¢ – Geared – Free, Free

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There are three game modes PIYO MODE, HYAGU MODE & TIME ATTACK.  PIYO MODE is the standard game where you have to match a certain number of sets to level up and move on to the next level.  HYAGU MODE (as far as I could tell) had the user trying to get 100 blocks of similar colors together in order to level up.  The final game mode was TIME ATTACK which has you playing against the clock.  In each mode you can press the ‘tip’ button is you get stuck 3 times and if you are unable to move the board is replaced with a fresh set of birdy block heads.

The first thing you notice about this game is the look, it’s pixelated style and bright vivid color really gives the game it’s own polished style reminiscent of the retro Japanese puzzle games, and shows you don’t need 3D graphics or over the top visuals to make a good game.  The menu’s, options, in game scoreboards and screens are all well presented and follow the style and feel of the game.  The only thing I would add is the rules for the different game mode (especially HYAGU MODE).

The sounds and music are all fitting with retro Japanese shouts, fun bouncy sound effects and a retro house style background music.  Although they all fit very well, the music can sometimes get repetitive so you won’t miss it if playing on silent whilst in transit.

Overall, the game is really fun, additive and haa a great pick up and play value where you can challenge yourself in your own time.  The looks and sounds all work and bring the game together.  However, like most good games, I was left wanting more such as a survival mode, or special ‘power blocks’ which would give the game the odd jet of action.  But this said, its a solid puzzler which is sure to be added to in the following versions and would definitely be a recommended purchase for all the ‘match 3’ lovers out there.

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