Pop The Bubbles

The basic premise is to continually clear the screen by eliminating groups of 3 or more like colored bubbles.  You do this simply by tapping on them.  As you eliminate bubbles your score increases and the purifier meter gets filled.  When the meter is full you can click on it and select a bubble, and all bubbles of that color will disappear (nice feature number one).  To boost your score you’ll want to eliminate multiple chains of 5 or more bubbles in a row.  This creates a score multiplier that fills the purifier even faster (nice feature number 2).  At random intervals in a level a charge bomb will appear.  The bomb is activated when you click on it, and will grow with each subsequent click.  After 5 seconds the bomb will go off and destroy all bubbles that it’s covering (nice feature number three).

The combination of score multipliers, charge bombs and the purifier add levels of strategy to Pop-A-Tronic that I don’t think I’ve ever experienced in this style of game.  The only down side to the game play that I’ve seen so far is that only clicking on the center of the bomb will cause it to grow.  If you click on the outer areas of the bomb you’ll actually interact with the playing board below, which means you might accidentally click a bubble and break your score multiplier.

The graphics are pretty sharp for a puzzle game.  I particularly like the spinning gears and swimming fish in the background.  The sound effects are decent enough, though the noise of selecting bubbles can get a bit irritating.  Sadly, there is no music.  If you’ve been following my reviews long enough, you know how I feel about music in a game.  If you’re new to my critiques, I really like music in my games.  But, I digress…

Overall, Pop-A-Tronic turned out to be quite the pleasant surprise.  It took what in my opinion was a worn out puzzle format and added a fresh spin to it.

Final Verdict: Recommended
App Store Link
App Shopper Link

Oh, and for those who might be wondering / skeptical, the offer for a free desktop version is legit.  Be forewarned, though, that the registration code on the PC side is a bear!

Here Comes The Bee

I highly encourage you to read the Pocket PC review, because I don’t want to mindlessly reiterate everything I have written there. As a quick synopsis, though, the idea is that you want to match like colored petals on different daisies. You do this by spinning the daisies around either clockwise or counterclockwise, depending on the arrow on the daisy. When you clear all the petals on a daisy the petals will be replenished with a cry of “Flower Power”, and if you can clear petals off of more than two daisies at one that’s a “Daisy Chain”. Crazy Daisy tries to accommodate a wide variety of puzzle gamers with its three modes: endless for those who just want to keep spinning their wheels (or flowers in this case), puzzle for challenge seekers who don’t like to be timed, and arcade mode for people who not only want to lose, but want to do so quickly! There’s nothing revolutionary about the game play, but it’s a fun, solid implementation of the item matching genre.

For the most part the graphics look like more polished versions of the Pocket PC images.  There are a couple of nice new additions, however, most notably the bee that buzzes around from time to time.  You can click on it several times to get it to go away, though it will eventually leave on its own.  There are no points for pestering the bee, so I’m not sure what purpose it serves, but it’s cute and a nice diversion from flower spinning for a little bit.  The sound effects fit the mood of the game really well, especially when it comes to things like the voice that says “Flower Power” and “Daisy Chain” or the noise the bee makes when you click on it.  The music is wonderful, and it seems that they’ve added a new track for arcade mode, or at least I don’t remember it being in the Pocket PC version.

Crazy Daisy was fun a year and a half ago when I first reviewed it for the Pocket PC, and it’s still a blast now on the iPhone.  This is one of those rare games that I’d suggest you purchase again, even if you own a copy of it for a different platform.  Besides, as of the writing of this Quick Look the game still costs only 99 cents.  You can’t go wrong there.

Final Verdict: Recommended
App Store Link
App Shopper Link

As mentioned above, the premise behind Gold Rush is to get a train from one station to the other by laying tracks down in front of it.  You get a few seconds at the beginning of each level before the train comes out of the first station, but once it starts it’s full speed ahead until it reaches the other station or crashes and burns.  To lay down a piece of track you simply click one of the three selections on the right side of the screen and then click one of the empty squares on the playing field.  Note that an “empty square” is not just indicated by the lack of tracks.  Obviously the stations are off limits, but there are also some squares filled with bushes and other things that can’t be crossed.  The only item that can be run over is gold.

This brings us to one innovative feature of the game.  Along the route there are piles of gold to be picked up, and you must collect all of them to finish a level.  Have no fear if your train enters a station and you missed some gold, because you can go back the other direction to collect the missing treasure.  As long as you don’t crash, it appears that you can go back and forth between stations as often as you like.  The other cool addition to Gold Rush is the “undo” feature.  While there isn’t a true undo, per se, in spirit of the era being captured in the game you can use your unlimited supply of dynamite to blow up unwanted sections of track.

Lots Of Gold

Limiting your view of upcoming pieces to three was a nice mechanic, but it would have been helpful if you could have discarded pieces from the “on deck” section, even if it meant a reduction in score or something.  The only way currently to deal with unwanted pieces is to stick them on the board somewhere anyway, and that can get kind of overwhelming after a while.  Also, the game desperately needs instructions.  The reason I was ready to write a “Not Recommended” review after my first play was because I didn’t really know how to play.  I didn’t get that you HAD to collect the gold, and I thought that the random offering of track pieces was poor judgement on their part.  I didn’t understand that you actually had to try to plan the route from multiple angles, as it were.

The graphics aren’t earth-shattering, but they are actually pleasant, consistent, and suit the game well.  There are some nice touches, like the train folding up before crashing, the smoke billowing out of the train’s stack, and the quivering of the selected piece on the right hand side.  The sound effects match the atmosphere quite nicely, as does the music.  However, the music does get a bit repetitive in a hurry.  At least there is music, though.

What started out as a seemingly haphazard mess ended up being a surprisingly fun and challenging game.  Once you figure it out the game play is sold, the atmosphere is pleasant, and the game provides a lot of challenge.  If you’re into games that meld casual game play mechanics, think ahead tactics and quick reactions, Gold Rush would be a good game for you.

Final Verdict: Recommended
App Store Link
App Shopper Link

[Note: image courtesy of App Shopper]

Lots Of Little Platforms

The premise is quite simple. You have an equal number of boxes on the top and bottom of the screen, and you must make pairs of boxes match up by tilting the device to move the boxes left, right, up and down. It seems too simple to be enjoyable, but the developer threw enough in there to make this quite a challenging game. First of all, the game is timed and you only get five lives. Judging by the lack of score I’d say that there is no way to earn extra lives either. After the first couple of levels most of the platforms don’t stand still any more. Some rotate while others slide back and forth. The more you tilt the device the faster the blocks go, and movement is momentum based, so it’s not uncommon to accidentally jump a small gap instead of falling through it. And, once you start having multiple pairs of boxes to match you have to be cognizant of all boxes at all times, because the time passes by quickly. This is one of those games that forces you to figure out how to solve a level right and repeatably, and actually makes it interesting to do so.

While I’m not normally a big fan of this alternative, Boxes does let you play music on your device in place of a soundtrack. I still don’t feel that’s an excusable substitute for not having music native to the game, but at least this is the type of game where just about anything in the background sounds just fine.

Boxes is one of those rare instances where a free game was mostly lacking, but ended up having enough game play to mostly make up for the deficiencies. I’ll be the first to admit that I would not have been happy paying for boxes, since it does feel like a work in progress, but if you can catch it while it’s free, you would be remiss to not give this challenging puzzle game a try.

Final Verdict: Recommended (while it’s free)
App Store Link
App Shopper Link

[note: image courtesy of AppShopper]

If you’re looking for something that exploits the power or unique capabilities of the iPod Touch, eXact isn’t it. However, if you’re looking for a simple puzzle game that challenges your capability to think ahead then eXact might just be for you. This is one of those games that, rather than trying to break any new ground, presents a proven concept in a slick, professional package. Is this eXactly what you’re looking for?

100 Point Bonus

As with many other puzzle games, the premise behind eXact is to either clear the playing field or get a certain number of points to move on to the next level, depending on which mode you’re playing. Each level starts with some randomly generated clumps of blocks scattered around the board. Along the four edges of the board there are two rows of blocks. These are the blocks you use to try and clear the board with. When you touch a block in the inner row it will slide into the center of the board, stopping when it hits another block or the other edge of the board. The idea is to get three or more blocks of the same color together, in which case they will disappear and you will be rewarded with some points. The outer row of blocks, though a bit harder to see because they are shadowed, gives you a clue as to what’s coming up next. This is important because planning ahead can save you some headaches down the road.

Once you get a few levels into the game you are rewarded with some special blocks to play with. Bombs will destroy any block within a 3×3 radius of where it stops. X-Stones will push any row or column of blocks it comes in contact with over by one square. They can only be destroyed by bombs. X-Gems will transform into a random color once they stop moving. Finally there are mystery blocks, whose purpose will be revealed when they are used. The only real obstacles in the game are filling up the board and time (if you’re playing Timed mode), but you always have to be cautious that you’re not sliding blocks haphazardly, because the playing field can fill up quicker than you think.

50 Point Score

There are three different game play modes in eXact. Arcade mode is the easiest of the three in that your goal is to fill a progress bar at the top of the screen by scoring points. Once the progress bar is filled you move on to the next level. There are no time constraints, and you only have to worry about clearing the playing field if you want bonus points (which, of course, help fill up the progress bar). In strategy mode you must clear the playing field to advance to the next level. You can play a board as long as you like, but ultimately all the blocks must be destroyed to move on. Finally you have Timed mode, which is Strategy with a timer. Personally, my brain doesn’t think quickly enough for this mode, but it’s certain to please even the most hardcore puzzle gamer. When not in timed mode there are occasions where the game feels a bit slow, but then when you stop to consider the strategic nature of the game that’s not really a big deal. My main gripe with the game play is that the squares are a bit small, but there’s an undo button should you slip and launch the wrong block, and until you’ve actually let go of a block, you can slide your finger away to let go of the block without releasing it.

The graphics are typical puzzle style graphics. They look polished, but there’s nothing special about them. There are little effects from time to time, like sparks that fly when you get a match, and the word Bonus popping up when you match 5 or more squares at the same time. As usual, though, you don’t really need fancy images to get the point across here. The sound effects are fine and serve their purpose. If they were more prominent I probably wouldn’t like them so much, but they pop up just enough to add ambiance without getting annoying. Unfortunately there is no music in the game, and with the slow paced nature of the game play for Arcade and Strategy modes, this is a sorely lacking feature.

Graphics: 8
Sound: 5
Installation Ease: 10
Fun Factor: 9
Usability: 10
Documentation: 10
Adjustability: 6

Addon Packs: NO
Suitable For Young Kids: YES
Online Support: YES

CONS:
- Slow Pace
- Blocks A Bit Small
- No Music

PROS:
- Great Variation On Match 3 Games
- Game Modes Have Different Objectives
- Overall Presentation Is Polished

OVERALL::
eXact is one of those nice games that surprises you with it’s challenge given the simplicity of the premise. It’s a wonderful variation on the highly overpopulated match 3 genre, and is sure to provide you with hours of game time. The slow pace of Arcade and Strategy modes might be a turn off for some, but the quick thinking required for Timed mode should please even the puzzle game fanatics. At a price point of 99 cents, eXact is worth every penny.

Overall Rating: 8.3

App Store Link: eXact

http://www.ludimate.com

Reviewed by Eric Pankoke

I’ll probably say this every time such a game comes along, but I love it when a developer takes a tested, seasoned concept and adds enough twists and turns to make it new and their own. Such is the case with Tilelander from Ludimate. The game obviously finds its roots in the classic Qix, but it won’t be long before you realize this isn’t your simple 80’s remake.

The premise behind the game is a bit silly, but then games like this were never really meant to have a plot. Tileland has been invaded by the Xyzons, and it’s up to you to stop them. “How?” you might ask. All you have to do is fill each level with tiles. Well, actually you can get away with just filling most of the level with tiles. Whenever you capture the last Xyzon on a level they will leave some flags, and this will help you complete the level without totally filling it. So how do you fill a level with tiles? You start each level “attached” to a tile. As you move around the level you create a trail, and as soon as you touch another tile the trail becomes a solid wall of tiles. If you touch a tile that will cause an area to be enclosed, all the space enclosed in that area will be filled with tiles. Additionally, any Xyzon caught in that area will be destroyed.

 Xyzons aren’t going to just let you surround them without a fight, however. The enemy will move around the screen in an attempt to destroy you. Some simply move up and down or left to right. Others will travel all around the screen in random patterns, while some will actually gravitate towards you. Certain Xyzons will actually produce other Xyzons to hunt you, while the shy kind will stay back and shoot at you any opportunity they get.

So besides capturing the enemy in tiles, how do you defend yourself? That’s where Tilelander sets itself apart from other games of this type. In many levels you have guns scattered throughout the screen. When you run into a gun it fires in the direction that you were moving. The second item you have to aid you in your quest is a tile that will actually create more tiles for you. At first this didn’t seem very useful, but it turns out that if you create a tile on the same area that a Xyzon is moving to, it will actually kill the Xyzon. The third, and in my opinion coolest, item at your disposal is a cloning device. This will create a “duplicate” of your ship that moves the same direction you do. However, if you move left and then stop, the clone will keep moving. In addition, clones can trigger guns, use the tile creation devices, and kill Xyzons by running into them (though some take multiple hits by clones). There are a few other items at your disposal as well, but you can check those out when you play the game.

There are two modes in the game. Arcade mode plays just as you’d expect from everything I’ve described above. The second mode, which comes in Easy, Normal and Hard flavors, has one interesting quirk to it. Xyzons will only move when you do! This restriction does not apply to Xyzon projectiles, though. However, if Xyzons only move when you do, and clones move even when you stop, hopefully you can see a huge benefit to clones in this mode. Personally, I prefer the second mode, though Arcade mode would provide an additional challenge if you’ve played through all levels in the other mode.

When I first started playing this game it seemed like just an above average Qix clone with a few twists. The more I replayed various levels, however, I really started to gain an appreciation for the work and creativity that went into coming up with some of these levels. A few of them were a bit tedious if you had to play them repeated times, but that was the exception to the rule. Some of them were brilliant, and you could tell by the themes that these guys have been video game fans for a long time, which was really neat.

The graphics in Tilelander are fairly simplistic, but serve the game well. Each of the Xyzons has a unique and discernable look, and of course your spaceship stands out from the crowd with its sleek, plus sign exterior. What’s really enjoyable about the graphics, however, is how the different tile types are used to create recognizable images of everything from Elvis to a stock market graph. Sometimes it’s almost a shame to have to ruin the cool designs Ludimate has created.

As with most puzzle games, the sound effects are nothing special, though everything did compliment its corresponding action. I did appreciate the fact that each tile type had a unique sound both when filling in an area and when being destroyed. The music was a mixed bag. What I heard of it was okay, but it seemed like on many levels there either wasn’t music or it was not playing correctly. On several occasions there was a lot of crackling but no sound, which lead me to believe that maybe their audio system wasn’t working 100% correctly on my machine.

Pros:

- Some nice twists to a vintage concept
- Several really well done level designs
- An overall polished package

Cons:

- Only being able to save every ten levels
- “Only” seventy levels
- Potential audio problems

The beauty of the Pocket PC is that it’s still trying to find its niche, so developers don’t feel constrained to the mass-market mentality that console developers have. As a result you get games like Tilelander, which takes a concept that works and makes it something unique. Hopefully this is just the first of many products to come out of the Ludimate stable.

Score: 9/10

Meltdown from Momentum Games
Reviewed by: Eric Pankoke

After playing Pocket Mini Golf 2 from Momentum Games, I had high expectations for Meltdown. Then, as I started seeing rather positive reviews from industry veterans that I greatly respect, the bar was raised. I am here to let you know that I was not in any way disappointed. Let the race to reactor core meltdown begin!

The premise behind Meltdown is simple. You play the part of Emgee, a nuclear power station safety control robot. Your job is to make sure that power stations run flawlessly. Unfortunately, this is not your day, as power station after power station is beginning to fall apart from rust and corrosion. To make matters worse, your legs won’t stop moving! You can’t let that slow you down, however, as you must deactivate a certain number of cores in each power station before they melt down and cause a nuclear explosion! Are you up to the task?

Emgee’s main two tools at his disposal are his super jump and his flight pack. Each has a meter on it, and the longer you hold down the button the more distance you’ll get out of the given tool. The caveat is this: the jump is only available when you’re on the ground (of course), but the flight pack is only available in the air. As soon as your feet leave the ground you can start charging your jet pack, but as soon as your feet touch the ground again that charge will be converted to your jump. Still sound pretty easy?

Here’s the element that binds the whole game together: timing. Sure you could charge your tools to full capacity every time, but you’ll never pass most of the levels that way, as you’ll continually overshoot targets (or undershoot, if a strong launch causes you to hit a pipe in the ceiling, for example). You may have to play through levels several times as you determine how much power will get you where you need to go, when you need to start powering up, and when you need to release the button. This goes for both jumping and flying. It’s also important to learn to use your environment. A low hanging platform may be your friend if you just want to turn around instead of making a long jump. Oh, and did I mention that each level is timed as well?

In addition to the clock and your perpetual movement, there are plenty of other obstacles as well. In the early levels you get simple things, such as core switches that have to be deactivated in a certain order and pools of coolant that will cause you to short circuit. As the levels progress you get more challenges, such as electric barriers that must be deactivated and radioactive gremlins that would like nothing more than to sample your circuits. Fortunately, some of these obstacles simply force you to start back at the beginning of the level, while keeping any already-triggered core switches flipped. However, anything that causes you to travel over parts of the level again wastes time, and time is definitely not on your side.

Meltdown

Meltdown

Pros:

Excellent Graphics
Spot On Sound
Unique, Challenging and Addictive Gameplay

Cons:

- Can be quite challenging for the less skilled player, even on “Easy” mode
- Have no control over when to use isotope rods
 -Have to replay all levels of a station to beat undefeated ones

Score: 9/10

Dragon Ball from TrialAction Games
Reviewed by: Eric Pankoke

One thing I like about the PDA game market is that unlike the PC and console markets, the developers are not shackled by the mantra “sell fast, sell many”. As a result we are often treated to unique, simple and fun games like Dragon Ball from Trial Action Games.

The premise behind Dragon Ball is rather straightforward. On each level there are several dragons trying to get from point A to point B along a track. Your objective is to destroy the dragons before they reach their destination. If a dragon reaches the end of the track you have to restart the level. Once you have used all of your lives the game is over.

So how do you get rid of those pesky dragons? Well, it seems that each dragon is made up of a series of sections, each section being one of several colors. Armed with your trusty “section shooter”, you must insert sections into the dragon’s body such that you create a string of at least 3 sections of the same color. Once you’ve done that, the connected sections will go away, and the remainder of the dragon will join back together. Once you’ve destroyed all of the sections in the dragon’s body, the head will disappear and that dragon is gone.

You control your shooter with the left and right directions on the D-Pad, and you can use either the stylus or the up direction on the D-Pad to fire. I prefer the D-Pad up direction, but unfortunately on my device it’s a bit sensitive, and quite often I find myself shooting on accident. Unfortunately, I can’t disable the use of the D-Pad for firing, so since the option is always there I choose to use it instead of the stylus. Optimally, it would have been nice to be able to configure the fire option to one of the hardware buttons.

From time to time sections of a dragon’s body will temporarily turn into a power-up. If you can destroy that section while it’s transformed, you will be awarded the corresponding power-up. Power-ups come in two different flavors. The first type of power-up affects every dragon on the screen. These power-ups include such things as slow-motion, stop, and reverse. The other type of power-up comes in the form of special sections that you can fire. These include a bomb that destroys everything around the vicinity of contact, a lightening bolt that destroys everything in its path, and a multicolored ball that takes on the color of the section it makes contact with.

In addition to the dragons themselves, the tracks are designed in such a way to provide their own challenges. Some of them have many twists and turns, so if your timing is off you might end up hitting the wrong section of a dragon as it rounds a bend. Other tracks cross over each other in sections, so a shot fired at a dragon passing under a section of track might inadvertently miss that dragon. There are even cases where the track has two exits, so you have to constantly watch both to make sure a dragon doesn’t get too close to either one of them.

So besides vanquishing the bad guys, what do you get for your time slaying dragons? Why, you get to rack up your score, of course! When you destroy sections of a dragon, you get points. When you destroy the entire dragon you also get points. In addition, you can score points with combos. Once you’ve destroyed a group of sections, if you can destroy another group with the next shot you have scored a combo. Each time you do this in succession the amount of the combo increases. On the flip side, the first time it takes you more than one shot to destroy a group of sections, the combo is over. The final way to score points is through a chain. Chains are formed when you destroy a group of sections, and the remaining sections that join back together have enough sections of the same color in a row to get destroyed themselves. A well placed shot could destroy 3 or more groups of sections in a dragon.

The game plays well, but is it easy on the eyes? You bet it is. All the “functional” screens (splash screen, menu, level map, etc.) are detailed and look very nice. The actual levels are a bit less detailed, but appealing none the less. Sections transforming into power-ups and back look good, and the effects when firing a bomb or lightening are pretty slick. Overall Dragon Ball presents a very professional visual appearance.

The audio is also first rate. While it appears that there is only a single track, the music matches quite well with the atmosphere. The sound effects all work together well, and the shattering of sections when destroyed gives quite an interesting impression of what the dragons might actually be. I quite enjoyed the audio element of the game.

Now we arrive at the “but…” section of the review. For the player in general, the biggest drawback to Dragon Ball will be the replay factor. There are a lot of levels to this game, but for all of the difficulties I’ve had with it, I’ve still managed to clear more than half of them already. If you aren’t into multi-pass games this might not be an issue, but I don’t think there’s much impetus to play the game once it has been completed. The next problem, and it’s possible that this is just specific to me, is that the game locks up a lot. I pretty much have to shut down the game after playing each level, and even then sometimes that’s not enough to keep the game from freezing the next time I launch it. And, since this is a full screen game, I’m pretty much forced to do a soft reset every time it freezes. I recently had to do a hard reset on my machine, and I’ve installed very little since then, so I don’t believe it’s an issue with any malicious software that’s running in the background. In fact, except for a couple of runtime files for different development environments and Total Commander, I don’t have anything else installed on my device yet. I’m using a Dell Axim X5 running WM2003. I’ve had problems with games locking up on me before, but not on a consistent basis like Dragon Ball.

Dragon Ball is a good game and presents the “three in a row” puzzle game in a unique new fashion. Good graphics and sound effects will keep you entertained until you’ve worn out all the levels, though there’s not much to bring you back for seconds. If it weren’t for the constant lock-up problem I have, I’d be a lot more eager to recommend this game, but in fairness to the product I will in this case provide two scores accordingly.

Cons:

Little replay value
Lock-up issues on my machine

Pros:

Unique twist to a seasoned puzzle game style
Quality audio and visual elements
Lots of levels

Overall:

8/10 (without the constant freezing)
5/10 (with the freezing problem)