Spellspire from 10tons is a clever twist on a word game that combines quick spelling with spell-casting. You begin the game as a grumpy looking novice wizard bearing only a stick as a wand and some worn apprentice robes, but …
What is man's best friend? Is it the canine? Nay! Man's best friend be his trusty trousers! But as 10tons' Trouserheart demonstrates, just as a dog may bite the hand that feeds him, a hero's pants can similarly decide to go rogue. When that happens, said hero must go on a sword-swinging adventure to retrieve his pantaloons, though the journey may be drafty.Trouserheart casts you as a powerful king who has everything he wants—or so he thinks. When his pants are nicked by a goblin, the king quickly realizes that the Lord had always intended for man and pants to be as one. So begins your bare-assed journey to find your trousers.Trouserheart is a hack-and-slash game that carries a whiff of The Legend of Zelda. You progress from room to room, and each one is filled with enemies like Goblins, Jelly Cubes, and ever-deadly Derp Knights. You have a virtual d-pad for moving, and an attack button for swinging your sword. That's as complicated as things get.
Joining Hands 2 is a cute little logic-based puzzle game that will keep small hands busy with Peablins and their many cousins, who are only happy when they're holding hands. Adult hands, however, might find it a little too simplistic and two-dimensional to stay interesting for very long.
Marble shooters are a dime a dozen, but the better ones always stick with you. Case in point: Zuma. Sparkle 2 is an example of a similar outing that could coast along on the success of the games that came before it, but it's actually a slick and entertaining alternative that will very easily usurp hours of your time if you're not careful.
No doubt there are plenty of people who deserve a cranial readjustment courtesy of some sports equipment: movie patrons that leave their phones on, commuters who have full-volume conversations on the train, and anyone who gets more than three samples at a crowded Baskin Robbins. For Tennis in the Face protagonist Pete Pagassi, that type of person is anyone affiliated with the creation, distribution, or consumption of Explodz Energy Drink.
We can't always find justification for a villain's actions. As the consistently astute Alfred tells us in The Dark Knight, "Some men just want to watch the world burn." And some, like King Oddball, want to do so while wearing the moon as a helmet.
Clear your schedule and say farewell to your loved ones: 10tons is setting up another Match-3 puzzle game. Puzkend is set in the subterranean world that was featured in Azkend 2, a stellar puzzle title that set a new standard for the match-3 sub-genre. It may seem familiar, but there are some twists at hand that will make it necessary for you to re-adjust your thinking cap.
Trying to think of what life was like all the way back in 2009 usually conjures up images of carrier pigeons and foot-powered Flintstones cars, but if you happen to work at 10tons, you probably remember fondly as the year that you launched the line-drawing meets tower defense hit Boom Brigade. Now after countless other great releases, from Joining Hands to Azkend 2, 10tons is looking to bring the Boom Brigade out of retirement.