The iTunes App Store is, without a doubt, full of puzzle games. Some are looking to jump on the bandwagon of Tetris copycats, while others present a match-three style. All attempt to challenge the iPhone gamer. We want to give you a glance into five new iPhone puzzlers competing to grace your screen.
Cross Fingers, by Mobigames, introduces gameplay where players must refit wooden shapes into preset slots. There are two types of shapes, light wood and red wood that must be dealt with. While light wood pieces slide and stay in place, red pieces must be held in place as other pieces are arranged around them. If players let go prematurely, the red shapes will return to their previous location. This clever feature grants Cross Fingers its name. Fingers must be twisted in order to hold the red piece in place while other shapes are reordered to solve the puzzle.
Pocketball is a physics-based puzzle game that utilizes the Box2D engine. Here, players are challenged to guide balls into pockets. Balls drop from the top of the screen at predefined locations. Users must then draw ropes between pegs to aim the balls toward their goal. As balls hit ropes, they bounce according to the gravitation pull within the app. Making things even more complex, certain obstacles can throw the balls off course. Bombs can destroy balls, while gravity wells suck them into a sort of black hole. Arrows are present in some levels that help push the balls in the right direction.
Implode contains 60 levels of buildings, just begging to be reduced to rubble. Each level presents you with the drawing of a building on a chalkboard, with only the support beams visible. You are also given a limited number of bundles of dynamite or blast bombs. These explosives must be placed upon the support beams in a configuration that, when detonated, will cause the building to crumble upon itself, with the highest point of the inevitable pile of rubble below an artificial dotted line. If you are unable to drop the building below the line, you fail and must retry the level. If you succeed, you receive a letter grade (just like in school) and a point total, comprised of Explosion Points, a Height Bonus, an Unused Bomb Bonus, and a Difficulty Bonus. Each of these is converted into dollar amounts, for a total payout in each level. Achieving an A+ on any given level is quite a challenge that will require much tweaking of explosive placement. Progressing through the game will expose you to new challenges, such as beams upon which no bombs can be placed or structures supported by a surprising number of beams, making them harder to bring down.
Monumental, the latest in a series of puzzles by Dr. Knizia, brings the Mayan world to the iPhone screen. Arranged in a pair of 3 x 4 grids, rectangular stones must be shuttled either left or right into the grids. Every stone sports a certain color and number of symbols on its face. Players must fill rows within each grid by grouping stones according to color or symbol, or hopefully a combination of both. For example, you would like to have three stones that are all the same color and have the same number of symbols on their faces. A combination like this would return a great score for matched colors, symbols, and number of symbols. Unfortunately, a case like this is rare to stumble upon. If a player combines stones with the same symbols in a row, regardless of the color or number of symbols, these qualify for symbol matches and award points. An identical pair of stones in a row also scores points, regardless of what’s on the third stone. Watch out for broken stones without symbols, as these can only be matched by their color.
We don’t want to leave out word puzzle games. Wordigo fits this genre nicely as it pressures players to creatively build words while undergoing a strict seven minute time limit. This brings a level of complexity and brevity to each game session. Wordigo houses eight word puzzle board that all require horizontal and vertical letter tile placement. The layout may remind you of a Scrabble board with many empty areas. Players must reach the goal of cleverly building words using the limited selection of randomized letter tiles. Succession to the next word path can only be had by completing the current path. The scoring system can be positively influenced by proper vowel placement.
These are just a few of the latest puzzle games in the iPhone App Store that caught our attention. Whether you choose one or all of them, we feel each boasts a handsome interface and gameplay elements that will satisfy puzzle fanatics the world over.
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