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 utilizes a simple premise: rearrange the light-colored wooden shapes to cover the dark background space. Shapes are moved simply by dragging them into place. There are two types of shapes: light wooden pieces and red wooden pieces. The red pieces offer a unique challenge, as they do not stay where they are placed, but rather slide back to their original position. You will be required to move and hold these pieces in temporary positions to facilitate moving other pieces around them. It is this element that bore the name Cross Fingers, as you are bound to get your fingers tangled as you attempt to hold multiple red pieces in place while sliding the wooden pieces around the gameboard.
Pocketball is built on the Box2D physics engine. In this game, players start with balls that drop at predefined points, and they have to fall into colored pockets. Draw ropes between pegs, which bounce the balls at different angles according to gravity. To complicate things, there are obstacles carefully placed to stump you: bombs that destroy nearby balls, gravity wells, and arrows that push balls in a 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.
Dr. Knizia's latest puzzle Monumental takes place in a Mayan setting, with a pair of 3 x 4 grids. A solid column separates the grids. This column fills with rectangular stones, which must be shuttled either left or right into the grids. Each stone has a distinct color and number of symbols upon its face. The goal is to fill rows on either side of the center column that match as many distinctive features as possible. Ideally, you would want to have three red stones with one bird on each, for example. This would earn an excellent score for matching colors, symbols, and number of symbols. Of course, it will be rare to match across all three elements. If you can place stones with the same symbols in a row, even if these are a blue, red, and yellow stone, or two stones with two birds and one stone with three birds, these still qualify as symbol matches. You also score points if you match an identical pair in a row, regardless of what is contained on the third stone. Broken stones without symbols will appear, too. These can only match by 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 iPhone puzzle games are just five of our top picks. We feel that if you decide to purchase one or all of them, you'll enjoy the rich gameplay experience each offers. Each sports unique characteristics that set them apart from the flood of puzzle games in the App Store. - 30202
Cross Fingers utilizes a simple premise: rearrange the light-colored wooden shapes to cover the dark background space. Shapes are moved simply by dragging them into place. There are two types of shapes: light wooden pieces and red wooden pieces. The red pieces offer a unique challenge, as they do not stay where they are placed, but rather slide back to their original position. You will be required to move and hold these pieces in temporary positions to facilitate moving other pieces around them. It is this element that bore the name Cross Fingers, as you are bound to get your fingers tangled as you attempt to hold multiple red pieces in place while sliding the wooden pieces around the gameboard.
Pocketball is built on the Box2D physics engine. In this game, players start with balls that drop at predefined points, and they have to fall into colored pockets. Draw ropes between pegs, which bounce the balls at different angles according to gravity. To complicate things, there are obstacles carefully placed to stump you: bombs that destroy nearby balls, gravity wells, and arrows that push balls in a 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.
Dr. Knizia's latest puzzle Monumental takes place in a Mayan setting, with a pair of 3 x 4 grids. A solid column separates the grids. This column fills with rectangular stones, which must be shuttled either left or right into the grids. Each stone has a distinct color and number of symbols upon its face. The goal is to fill rows on either side of the center column that match as many distinctive features as possible. Ideally, you would want to have three red stones with one bird on each, for example. This would earn an excellent score for matching colors, symbols, and number of symbols. Of course, it will be rare to match across all three elements. If you can place stones with the same symbols in a row, even if these are a blue, red, and yellow stone, or two stones with two birds and one stone with three birds, these still qualify as symbol matches. You also score points if you match an identical pair in a row, regardless of what is contained on the third stone. Broken stones without symbols will appear, too. These can only match by 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 iPhone puzzle games are just five of our top picks. We feel that if you decide to purchase one or all of them, you'll enjoy the rich gameplay experience each offers. Each sports unique characteristics that set them apart from the flood of puzzle games in the App Store. - 30202
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