Enter Twistrix by Avalon Alliance. Now, this is a puzzle game – it’s name is even a bit of a puzzle, spinning fumbles on your tongue. The concept is similar to a rubik’s cube in that there are moving bits and pieces, all involving configurations of sorts, that, once resolved, lend the puzzle to becoming organized by color scheme. However, unlike the rubix cube, there is no set algorithm for solving the puzzle – you must instead rely on a sequence of logic, moving pieces one slot at a time, and filling empty slots with other pieces. In this manner, Twistrix resembles more those sliding puzzles kids get for free in goodie bags from Chuck E Cheese, or as party favors, the puzzles scrambled in a small, 2 inch square with many squares within, that, once arranged in order, reveal a stunning, teenage heartthrob or puppy.

Twistrix is arranged in its own, unique fashion. If it resembles anything at all, it would be a traffic light, with its initial red and green colored dots, set inside a revolving gray-green turntable of sorts. The entire contraption may be spun to the left or right, or you may spin individual rows, once again, to the left or right. All the rows stacked upon each other (each level has varying amounts of rows) create columns, of which only one is facing you at a time, but each holds its own assortment of colored balls. An empty slot is available each round – sometimes more – to aid you in moving the balls around, and you must figure out how to move the balls – up and down, rotating the rows – so that each column holds a stack of like colored balls (i.e. a stack of 5 red balls). To make matters more challenging, as you progress through the levels, more colors are added.

The graphics may not be particularly stunning, and sometimes my finger will fail to illicit a response from the game, but Twistrix accomplishes its most important goal: it’s a brain twister, in a deeply furrowed brow kind of way. I admit to fumbling a bit on the first round – the first round - and I sheepishly twisted things, moved things here and there, before I finally developed a feeling for the game. It’s not that the game, itself, isn’t intuitive, it’s just the mechanism, the turntable, is a puzzle premise unlike any I’ve seen, and so it took a few moments for my brain to register the logical progression of things. Once I understood the mechanism, it was free-flying; mind you, I’m not saying it was easy, merely, the puzzles made sense. And, that is the best puzzle of all.

After playing it, I’ve decided Numbl is definitely my choice in math games, for improving basic speed skills in mental math. No one wants to play a game of decoding differential equations and higher end calculus, except for those few and far between math majors, but nearly anyone can partake in a game of speedy arithmetic – and that’s essentially what Numbl is, coupled with the strategy of using the least moves possible to clear the entire board.

The game is shockingly good-looking. Good sound effects of the right pitch and digital cheeriness bring to mind a retro computer system, only it’s paired with a contemporary blue sheen that reminds me of the Chase credit card company. The setup reminds me of a calculator, with numbered buttons in a 5×4 area, an arrangement I suppose, is a good likeness to have when the game revolves around calculating a sum. The object of the game is to clear the board with the least moves as possible; in other words, it’s best to use the most numbers possible per turn, to faster eliminate numbers from the board. The number 11, for example, when shown at the top to be solved, could simply be solved by the addition of the two numbers 9 and 2. But, since 11 isn’t a terribly high number – as opposed to, say, 17 – then it’d be wiser to use an allotment of small numbers, like 3+2+2+4 – given of course, that you have these numbers available. Should you worry that you may receive a number that you cannot create with the remaining numbers at hand, fret not: Numbl takes into account such limitations and allows you to use a single number of equal value to the number at the top (e.g. use a 6 for a 6). Obviously, for the purposes of clearing the board, I recommend not to tap a number 9 to solve for 9 when you could instead use 2+2+5. Besides, when a pesky 17 shows up, you’ll want to have that 9 on hand.

Easy to pick up and easy to learn, Numbl also offers a nice split-screen mode for two-player. Also, both the one-player and two-player modes are timed, making speed a crucial element to the game. I prefer one-player, myself, because I enjoy improving my own mental acuity at my own pace (faster, Jackie, faster!), but to each his own. I hope in later versions Numbl will offer a similar version of play with subtraction, multiplication and division. You may as well cover all the preliminary bases, right? In any case, whoever is lucky enough to nab the sole promo code won’t regret downloading this game.

Promotion Codes:

MRFA3W369MWR

*When using the promotion code to download for free, it’s on a first-come, first-served basis. Out of courtesy, please leave a comment below mentioning you’ve used the promotion code.

I was born in 1984, and while erring a bit on the too-young side to truly appreciate, say, the classic Atari, or The New Kids on the Block, maybe even acid-washed jeans, midriff t-shirts and neon yellow shoelaces, it goes without saying that I’m a product of the 90s. Every kid knows the game Simon Says, and when I little, maybe around 5 or 6, I remember a few of my friends had this cool, electronic Simon game, where you had to tap the red, green, yellow, and blue buttons in the same order that the computer dictated. The Nintendo DS sure ate up a bunch of my time – as did swinging in birch trees, we the feral youth of Pennsylvania – but for young and adult minds alike, there are few things more enterprising, and addicting than a simple game of pattern recognition.

That handheld Simon game was a hit, of course, and it’s still in toy stores around the globe today, so why mess with a good thing? Thankfully, Category 5 Games thought the same thing – it helps that their tagline is “We make the games we want to play.” You sure do, Category 5. There’s another Simon Classic on the iTunes Store – with the same title, even, only no colon punctuation – but this version by Category 5 Games has managed to skyrocket to the top of the most downloaded free apps list. And, for good reason: it, pure and simple, is classic Simon.

The game’s design is no more, and no less, than the classic Simon interface of a circle divided into four quadrants of green, red, blue, yellow, starting from the upper left and moving clockwise. Each colored quadrant rings out a different pitch, for the player to recognize sounds not just by sight memory, but by sound memory. Oh, the ingenuity, classic Simon. When reciting the game’s pattern to you, Simon lights up the sequence to follow, and you must tap the colored quadrants in the same, exact manner. For the gung-ho and cocky, it seems like an easy task, but like any Simon Says player knows, it’s surprisingly easy to trip up. So far, I’ve made it up to 16 perfect rounds before my memory peters out, but I’m working on higher recall.

How will you fare?

Area 51: Conspiracy Theory by Mobile Deluxe is a new gaming app that plays heavily on the idea of government cover-ups, placing you at the head of an FBI force investigating the disappearance of one prominent, Nicolai Savin – a businessman, no less. In the same vein as the recent Sherlock Holmes app I reviewed a few weeks back, Area 51: Conspiracy Theory involves you in a storyline that you must read along – this time, in the form of your

Your character, Agent Audrey McDermott - very professinonal sounding, isn't it?

character’s personal journal – and then plough through different images that feign as “investigating” for clues. The images you must rummage through, again, are riddled with rubbish of an inconsequential nature – rather than having cleverly set up spaces for you to open cabinets, or root through filing cabinets, the game instead takes the easy route, of setting of a random room with a motley assortment of birds, bugs, medical equipment, skeletons, soccer balls, and a host of other things that you must zoom in upon to correctly identify. The high-pitched bells praise you whenever you select an item correctly (the items you must search for are included in a list at the bottom), and a sharp vibrating buzz disciplines you whenever you tap an incorrect item. Despite the good reviews many users gave the game on iTunes I just found it disappointing. I suppose, when you have to search for matches and bunnies when the storyline proves to be fairly entertaining.

Searching for clues in the clutter

Taking a more interactive approach than the Sherlock Holmes game, in this game you play as Agent Audrey McDermott, a highly decorated officer hailing from the Metro Police in Washington D.C. who, to the chagrin of her new partner Rockwell, has been assigned as the leading detective in the case of a person missing under suspicious circumstances. The characters are played by live actors, in unanimated snapshots, who are dressed appropriately for the parts. McDermott carries with her a chip on her shoulder, her face permanently lined in seriousness and a furrowed brow, her mouth puckered forward in action mode. Her straight brunette locks are flat-ironed, slicked back and shiny – the minimalist approach to her feminism. But, as with all female detective roles, her sexuality is played up subtly in her choice of the open white collar, a low hanging necklace drawing attention to some hopeful decolletage, and matching earrings. Then, of course, there are her undeniable good looks. Her partner, meanwhile, is riddled with the insecurity of senior FBI experience and a threatened male ego. He continually chides and jokes, demurring to her authority and strong-willed presence. Like any woman FBI Agent (cue Agent Skully from The X-Files and Agent Dunham from Fringe), McDermott stands firm and  shoots down his comical tangents, preferring instead to focus on the case at hand.

Your partner, Agent Kevin Rockwell - he's a chiding one

The way the interaction between the two characters is set up, along with the back story of McDermott’s father – a conspiracy theorist – I actually became engrossed enough in the story to put up with all the silly clue-hunting. If the game instead posed puzzles to solve, or – as I described before – a more lifelike investigation process, say with file cabinet searching, unlocking of doors, searching through computers, then the game would be much more enjoyable. As of now, it feels like I’ve been sold short of what the game could really offer. The game, at least, is updated periodically in its missions, so at least there are fresh storylines down the road to captivate what small audience this app may have. If in the next updates the developers choose to improve the clue-hunting experience, then I would happily download new mission after new mission, following the story in the manhunt to truth.

I always did like a good government coverup.

DynaZoo is DynaCool!

DynaZoo is an interesting app. It’s supposedly for kids, but as an adult I found it pretty difficult… then again, my girlfriend does say I’m pretty childish sometimes, so take that with a grain of salt!

DynaZoo, by Apps4U, is a matching game on methamphetamine and it’s unapologetic about it – their sub-title is “Animal Matching Frenzy” and the game is just that: a frenetic frenzy. I dove right in to this app without reading the instructions and did OK, but I went back and read them and realized there were some things important in there that helped me out later, so I would recommend giving them at least a once over. For example, if there’s a particularly crowded region you can double-tap it and a “thunder” will sound and everything will shake and redistribute – pretty handy. Aside from a few intricacies the controls are simple: tap on an animal and find it’s pair. There are four levels of increasing difficulty. On Easy the animals are on a grid and shake themselves into a jumble of outlines; Medium is the same, but the animals redistribute faster; on Hard they redistribute rapidly, change size and flip horizontally; on Pro they redistribute, change size, flip and fade in and out! Despite the complications, I didn’t find that the game didn’t get too much harder with the higher levels, which is a good thing, because it’s pretty hard to begin with. After a few games I settled down and was able to drastically improve my time – oh yeah, it’s timed and your first score will make you feel terrible!

Animal overload!

The graphics are really cool. They remind me of various sand art videos you can find on YouTube – check one out here – only they’re way cooler. There’s a high-score section and a “Cool Stuff” section, the latter being an advertisement of sorts, but whatever, it’s unobtrusive.

I only have two suggestions, or issues with this app. First, once you’re in the game you have to exit the app to go back to the main screen, or lock the screen to pause the game – there’s no pause option. Second, if you make an incorrect match thunder strikes and everything is shaken up. but the two incorrect selections remain selected. You have to go back and deselect one or both in order to make a correct match. I found this extremely frustrating and time consuming. With so many animals in such a small area you’re bound to accidentally match two animals (I know I did) and feature that automatically resets your selection would be very helpful.

Despite these drawbacks I would recommend this for anyone over the age of 5 or 6 (female) and 25 (male).

Whimy Animals is a series of simple puzzles, meant for the young mind who is just beginning to understand spatial connections and logical deductions – or, in a much simpler sense, able to at least match like shapes together. The puzzles are of animals – from cats to lions, rhinos to roosters – and an outline is given of the animal’s general shape, with other shapes demarcated within, in ways that almost seems to anatomically break down the animal into recognizable parts – the flank, arms, head, tail. It isn’t always so precise, but the developer did a good job of creating shapes within the animal’s form that maintain a fluid symmetry to the animal’s natural form. It certainly makes it easier to conceptualize just what the creature may be in the end. To work the puzzle, you must drag the pieces to their corresponding slot, where they will tack into place. On the harder setting, it might be a tad difficult for kids with impatience, because the piece must be centered above its correct place to fit; otherwise, the piece will go back to its original starting point. Even if you’re just a wee bit off in where you put it, it will return, almost deterring you into thinking that you somehow made a mistake. Well, an adult would try again, but I could see how some kids may instantly think they did something wrong. Then again, this technical finickiness may actually prompt a child to go back and try a piece again, building up his confidence to trust his original inclinations.

Once all the pieces are in place, the image changes from one of outlines and pastel colors to a photo of the animal, itself, along with an audio clip of the sound it makes, whether that be a crow, a roar, a chirp, or bark. The name of the animal will appear in the lower right, should that pique a child’s curiosity. It would help if the names were written in larger letters, because I’m sure most kids won’t even notice the tiny “Silverback” in faded gray font by the animal most kids would otherwise just call a “gorilla.”

The app contains enough animal puzzles to keep children interested, and the option to increase the difficulty can help foster motor skill precision. It’s not the most spectacular app to feast your eyes upon, but the fact that it provides hours of curiosity and challenge for the low price of $0.99, I’d say it’s well worth a look.

I’m talking about Pop Cap Game’s Bejeweled 2, of course. Or, even just Bejeweled. But, for the purposes of this review, I will be talking about the sequel in this acclaimed game – a game that many online players have idled away hours of their time in unproductivity, swapping and destroying gems, in some haze of OCD. Come to think of it, what is it about block-breaking games that hold our fascination so much? Does it just feed into the mindless, anal retentive qualities in all of us, making us pair like objects, and seeing them destroyed, then having a new stack fall into place, in some nonstop continuum of the same thing? It’s like peeling a giant stack of potatoes, or, as my boyfriend’s mom likes to say, it’s similar to knitting. Maybe there’s something inherently soothing to anything mechanical and orderly, giving the otherwise untapped mind a job, something menial and contrived to focus our energy. When playing Bejeweled 2, I feel like the intelligent, but otherwise neurotic Border Collie, who when given ample hours on end with nothing to do, finds himself staring at a dripping faucet, watching each drop fall in slow motion with the most rapt, inert attention. Actually, that’s a fairly accurate analogy for what playing Bejeweled 2 is like – a dripping faucet.

Perhaps, that’s where the sheer brilliance of Bejeweled 2 lies (and, I don’t just mean the jewels). I, for one, cannot put this game down. I probably wasted played a good one to two hours each day this week before I realized I had already done this before on the computer, in 2004. Oh, Bejeweled, how your witchery tricks me again and again. There’s no question Bejeweled 2 is an addictive game, and the legions of fans out there contributing to its success, both online and off, is a testament to the game’s lasting greatness. And, it’s just so darn simple to play.

The game of Bejeweled 2 is played on an 8×8 board, with some stratospheric background of the most spectacular origins, set somewhere on a distant planet, or in some fantasy dimension. The music, too, plays off this eccentric, futuristic, day-glo feel by featuring synthesized glam rock beats that would feel right at home in Blade Runner, or in a David Bowie music video. I really like the music – I pretend I’m in an anime, and with the bright colors, space atmosphere and beats, it’s hard not to feel that way. To boot, anytime you beat a level, a wormhole appears, resplendent in pastels and neons, to take you to the next level. Beating the levels is easy, at first, since the jewels on the playing field are easily matched up into pairs of 3 and siphoned away, for more jewels to take their place. The rules are short: swap one jewel with another adjacaent, and only when swapping lets you form a row of three (the game won’t let you move, otherwise). That’s it! If your swap forms a row of four jewels, then that jewel type will form a power gem, worth more points; if your row contains 5 jewels, then you’ll create a hypercube, which is the badass of all the jewels, earning you mondo points and explosions all around. You’ll make plenty more power gems than hypercubes, so take advantage of the former. The power gem not only earns you more points, it destroys the surrounding gems in a 2-block radius, leaving more room for new jewels to take place. It’s hard to beat the hypercube, though; when it’s formed, whichever jewel you choose to swap it with – let’s say a blue gem – then all the jewels of that kind on the board will be destroyed, in some cool, chain lightning effect. If you play in Action mode, this happens fairly often, given the set-up Bejeweled gives you. In Classic and Endless, it’s much more infrequent (Endless is the same as Classic Mode, only there’s no maximum amount of moves per level).

At the end of the day, all I can really say about Bejeweled 2 is… well, I can’t really think of anything to say. I’m completely dumbfounded and blinded and speechless. In fact, I think I need another look at the game, right now. Don’t worry, I’ll get back to you.

*dashes for iPhone*

Omer Vinik, the developer of Kid’z Maze, wanted to design a game that could “help kids develop hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and counting abilities”; from this hub of brainstorming, he concocted the idea for a labyrinth game designed specially for kids, because apparently, labyrinth games are for adults only. Now, this is my own personal anecdote, and I don’t tout to be especially brilliant, or spatially advanced, but I played with my wooden labyrinth board from as young as 4 years of age. It’s true, I may not have been able at first, with my fumbling fingers and newfound sense of orientation, to play a ball through to the very end with finesse, but that doesn’t mean the game didn’t grab my attention or adequately challenge my motor skills. Actually, a more challenging game, with consequences and the chance at failure, may have made success more sweet in the end, than a game that offers no risks other than following a straight path to the end.

The game has a nice enough look to it, and is set up as labyrinth games usually are: poised from an aerial perspective, with the user moving the ball by tilting the iPhone in different directions. Only, in this game, in some attempt to add educational value for children, there are numbers along the maze path that are read aloud as the ball collides with them. Nothing truly of interest happens when the collision happens, other than the number increases in size, growing more pixelated the larger it becomes, until it just fades away, along with the voice narrating. Curiously, rather than add more interesting elements to the game, itself, like secondary objectives, or misleading paths (you know, like in a maze?), the developer instead offers the option to customize the gameboard, by switching tile or path colors, or even the ball color. I highly doubt most kids would find this interesting or fun, being able to use a red or blue ball, against the equally boring background palettes of fine grain light wood, versus large-grain dark wood. Zzzzzzz, put me to sleep.

But, this isn’t to say that Kid’z Maze is completely without merit. I truly think the developer had his heart in the right place with this concept, and if he just tweaked a few things, I’m sure the game could be a success. There are already two, incredibly successful Labyrinth games for the iPhone, so in order for his game to appeal to a large audience, particularly a very young one, he should think about adding some colorful and quirky elements, something more lighthearted and original than the stock audio clip of kids cheering, which I’ve heard in a wide range of kids apps. The idea isn’t nearly unique enough to make it in the App Store, and the idea that kids cannot handle – emotionally, mentally, or physically – the challenge of a regular Labyrinth game, is laughable.

Promotion Codes:

99MHLK9X9WKF

H43W9M4F4X6T

*When using the promotion code to download for free, it’s on a first-come, first-served basis. Out of courtesy, please leave a comment below mentioning you’ve used the promotion code.

Every so often I come across a game that I can see myself playing over and over again. Or one, at least, that’s clever and quirky enough to wedge itself into my usual game rotation; given my obsessiveness over games, this is hardly a trifle characteristic. Bad Apples by Metaversal Studios is one such game that’s caught my eye in a good way. In a manner similar to games like Bookworm, Virus Laboratory, and Bejeweled, the objective of Bad Apples is to stack different types of objects atop and adjacent to one another, gathering them in likeness, until a gathering of three or more is created to earn you points. In the case of Bad Apples, the objects to be toyed with are fruit, including blueberries, pineapples, what look to be cherry tomatoes, and, what else? Bad apples.

To win in this game, you must pair together groups of three or more of like fruits – once they pair up, they’ll be juiced, as shown in your gradually increasing collective of juice to the right of the screen. Like any good, fresh squeezed fruit, the juice is bright and cheery looking, just glowing of vitamins and nutrients to make your hair and skin glow (gee, I’m not a juicer at all). In a humorous twist, much like Virus Laboratory, the fruits each wear an expression that gives them a faint, individual character. The pineapple, boasting a heritage from the tropics where he, no doubt, laid in the sun all day working on his glorious tan, dons a blindingly white smile that gives away his excess of bravado and self-confidence. The cherry tomato is squat and bug-eyed, with a goofy smile, a good example of any toy version of its larger fruit. The blueberry, meanwhile, with his frazzled lips and wide-eyed countenance is probably suffering from indigestion, a common side effect of too much Vitamin C. The last characters, the bad apples, are the worst kind of fruit – the spoiling kind, with a fuzzy, green hat of mold, and a foul penchant for making other, nearby fruit go bad and giving you an upset stomach. Nobody likes the bad apples. In this game, they just get in the way of other fruit gathering together, and if bad apples form a trio, then they’ll juice together and you’ll have rotten juice. Thankfully, you can get rid of them with the crusher fruits – which look like the spiky jackfruit, the largest of all fruits, and probably the strongest if they could muscle their way around – who crush any fruit beneath them, friend or foe.

Crushing bad apples earns you +40 points each time, so destroying them is definitely a positive strategy. Otherwise, pairs of three to four of good fruits earn you somewhere in the +120-140 range, which clearly helps you rack up points efficiently. Special fruit characters will appear that correspond to each fruit – blueberry, pineapple, cherry tomato – and when paired with their kin, they will also juice other kin onscreen in one giant whammy of a juicing spree, earning you tons of points. Depending on how well you do each level, you can also earn rewards, which have delightfully clever names that wouldn’t sound out of place at a smoothie or raw bar: fruit salad (to get it, group one of each of the three powerups – special fruit characters – in a single turn), the full bushel, easy as apple pie, fresh squeezed, king of the juice, and more. I rather liked how they threw in Tequila Sunrise, just for kicks. Pesticide is a really helpful award, which you can get by killing five worms using crushers or powerups. There’s really no need to elaborate on the Pesticide – it’s pretty self-explanatory. And, don’t worry about the worms until you upgrade to the full version – they don’t exist in the free version.

The free version is enough to keep me entertained, with three levels of difficulty, an arcade and puzzle mode  (exactly like the puzzle mode in Virus Laboratory), but I really would like to battle worms that rot apples (oh no!), so I’ll probably be upgrading to the full version soon. I recommend you to check it out today.

In Gluons, there are a variety of different colored atoms (I guess you could call them that, since subatomic particles theorized to bind quarks is a bit long) – including pink, red, blue, green, orange, white and black, that you must connect according to a set of rules. When free flying solo, any atom may be paired with another, regardless of color, but once connected in a pair, each individual atom may only be connected with an atom of the same color (e.g. an orange to an orange, a blue to a blue). Moving the atoms around onscreen involves the use of your thumbs – when both are pressed down on the iPhone screen, these vibrating frequency waves emit in circles that radiate out from your thumbs’ point of touch. The atoms bounce off these waves with a slight, sticky ricochet, as if they exist in an environment with little gravity. I suppose the weak gravity makes sense given the moon terrain backgrounds that change for each level.

Should you happen across a white atom – and you will, there are plenty in the starting levels – these flying orbs have the power to act as wild cards, able to connect to any color; therefore, should you have a set of connected atoms running blue, red, red, red, and a single pink atom floating around, then use the white atom to connect to either the blue or red atom at the chain’s end, and then connect the pink atom to the white one. They’re real combo savers, when used correctly, because more often than not, you’ll find yourself drowning in orbs that cannot be connected. Once you form a chain – the longer, the better – let it fall toward the power beam at the bottom of the screen, the one that looks like a fusion reactor, and your chain will be atomized, earning you points depending on the length of your chain. Obviously, you want to earn as many points as possible, given the allotted time per level. So, it’s best to aim for longer chains despite solo atoms falling into the power beam earning you points, as well – just nowhere near as many.

The black ones are the ones to watch out for. Of no positive use, the black atoms serve only to destroy both your chains and the whole power beam, gradually. A black atom may be destroyed by knocking into it with a larger chain – it’ll break apart, but at least the atoms will be preserved. If a single atom or pair or two collide with a black atom, then the black atom will obliterate them, and obliterate any chance of you forming a chain with those orbs and using them for points. Also, as if these crimes weren’t bad enough, should any lone black atom fall into the power beam, points get knocked off your score, and the power beam loses life. Solution? Get rid of the black atoms!

I really like the premise of the game – it’s simple, colorful, and it’s a bit like a puzzle, all of which are great in my book. However, the main challenging point of this game isn’t that the strategy involved is terribly difficult – it’s more that the game, itself, is technically challenging. It’s really difficult to route a ricocheted course for your atoms when they bounce off your thumbs, and so connecting them because of game of your patience and wits. It can become frustrating, especially when the tempo of the game increases, and the chains spiral around maddeningly before falling to the power beam. Also, sometimes there’s a glitch where the atoms just fall straight through your thumbs, and you’re unable to bounce them. Sometimes, I wonder if there’s any strategy involved other than luck. In some ways, it’s easier if you tap the screen frequently, adding more atoms to the screen, in the likelihood there will be more than enough to create long chains, simply from floating around together.

But, I enjoy the game, strategy or not, and I enjoy connecting and destroying things, especially when it involves atomizing.

Promotion Codes:

TXP37H94MHT6

ERHLAYT46E7Y

*When using the promotion code to download for free, it’s on a first-come, first-served basis. Out of courtesy, please leave a comment below mentioning you’ve used the promotion code.