Hidden object games are best-suited for desktop computers, mainly because a large part of the gameplay involves searching densely-packed, highly-detailed scenes - a task that's clumsy to perform on a smaller screen. Moreover, the complex puzzles of adventure games are also better-solved with a mouse than with touchscreen controls. Haunted House Mysteries for iPad is a nice-looking game that suffers by appearing on an inappropriate platform.As so many hidden object adventures do, Haunted House Mysteries begins with a terrible tragedy. A famous archaeologist and his family are murdered in their New England vacation home, presumably because of a rare artifact being kept there. Years later, Nancy, a young graduate student writing a thesis on modern-day superstition, is called to the home by her elderly aunt. On the surface, the invitation is for Nancy to enjoy a few days' R&R, but she soon discovers her aunt's true intention is for her to investigate the site's alleged paranormal activity."Haunted House Mysteries was obviously made by a team of talented artists, since from the first spooky scene it makes a good impression. Nancy and her aunt are sharp and attractive by design, and so are all of the game's locations. (I'm fairly sure the exterior of the main house is the Norman Bates Psycho house.) The game also sounds pretty good thanks to a nice music score that effectively augments the lugubrious Victorian interiors.
Don't lose your head, but there's a new endless runner available in the App Store! What's that? You've already lost it, and now you're losing blood everywhere you go? Oh well, let's just - pardon the expression - run with it.Headless is a tribute to "Miracle Mike," who purportedly bled for 18 months following his decapitation. At least, that's how the game's title screen tells it. We're assuming that Mike was a chicken, as that's what you play as throughout this game. Well, most of Mike, anyway - as the name and tribute indicate, you're basically running for what's left of your life, minus your cranium, with blood splashing out all the while.Truth be told, the cartoonish blood loss is perhaps the most interesting thing about this game. As the chicken runs along, it's losing blood from a gauge measuring how much it has left. Along the way, there are items which look like filled bags from a blood bank (or messy ketchup packets - take your pick), that serve to replenish a portion of your constantly-depleting vital fluid.
Gyro is not for those who desire a relaxing experience in their puzzle games. While some puzzle games let you sit back, match gems, and collect cute creatures, Gyro couldn't care less about those games' fans. In fact, Gyro doesn't seem to care about anyone. Gyro is a huge jerk who teases you with a simple and light-hearted experience that morphs into a sea of difficulty. And it's incredibly fun.Right from the start, Gyro feels similar to Terry Cavanagh's Super Hexagon. When you first hop into arcade mode, you'll find yourself rotating a giant three-colored circle. From there, orbs of each color will sneak onto the screen and slide their way toward the center. Your goal is simply to rotate the circle so the orbs collide with the portion of the matching color. This simple idea goes a long way in defining Gyro's identity as a straightforward game.The other part of Gyro's identity is that it gets difficult quickly. While it takes a long time to get anywhere near Super Hexagon levels of frustration, every game mode will challenge you. In arcade mode, the colored orbs start floating in at a slow pace, not requiring you to spin your circle much at all. Over time, you'll be eased into a more rapid pace. You'll start to spin your circle to catch a flurry of orbs or rhythmically rotate to gather a single-file line of alternating colors. All the controls are touch-based and they work wonderful.
Flux is the kind of puzzle game you can play during a quick coffee break, or sit down for a marathon session. It's simple to learn and easy to play, but getting to the point of mastery means learning to think ten steps ahead. This works in Flux's favor, however, as the game doesn't bother with power-ups or mini-games to distract you from the puzzles at hand.The overall goal of Flux is to create an uninterrupted flow from the source tile (purple and marked with an arrow) to the sink tile (purple and marked with a circle). To accomplish this, all you need to do is swipe green tiles to change the direction they're pointing, 90 degrees at a time. Tiles that enter the flow turn from orange to green, while immovable tiles stay blue, and tiles outside of the flow orange. You can only change green tiles and the source tile, which limits how many moves ahead you can work. It's essentially a simplified version of Pipe Mania, but all you have to worry about is which direction each tile is pointing."Flux comes with ten level packs that are unlocked successively by collecting a certain number of stars. Getting a perfect star score is an exercise in extreme precision, as you quickly lose stars by using more moves than the level allows. After you play through the initial ten packs you'll find yourself staring at an additional 375 puzzles waiting to be unleashed. Even with a perfect score on the previous stages you'll need to dip into Flux's in-app purchase system to nab extra stars. You can also get ten stars for free by sharing the game on Facebook, which isn't too bad.
If the Marvel super heroes knew all they had to do to defeat all kinds of villains was to beat them at match-3, they'd probably be a lot less angst-ridden. To date, no comic book writer has actually decided to act on this idea, but Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign comes close. Taking the core gameplay from Puzzle Quest and fusing it with the video game version of an actual comics storyline might sound strange, but it actually comes together pretty well.Taking the baton from other Marvel mobile and social games like Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Marvel Puzzle Quest takes place after The Pulse, which sounds like something from Dimension Films but is actually a mysterious event that introduced the world to Isotope-8 (or just ISO-8, for short). The new element can make super-powered folks even stronger, and is thus coveted pretty highly by the forces of evil.Though you only get a cursory introduction to all of this if you haven't played the other games, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been keeping tabs on ISO-8. The new twist here is that Norman Osborn, the artist formerly known as the Green Goblin, has wormed his way into a position of power, and his H.A.M.M.E.R. organization has booted Nick Fury and company out of favor with the world's governments. This can all be a little overwhelming if you aren't versed in the source material, which might be the game's most glaring weakness.
Gary is a bit of a lout. In this economy, a lot of people do whatever they can to keep their jobs, and that's not exactly untrue of Gary. See, Gary likes to party, and party he did last night, out on the town and drunk all the while. This has led Gary to oversleep, and now he's late for work.This might be forgivable, except this does not seem to be the first time Gary has let temptation get in the way of doing an honest day's work. As a result, he now stands to be fired if he is caught coming in late (his boss even has a wanted poster of Gary on his desk). So now in LEVEL 22, Gary is doing whatever he can to keep his job: In this case, engaging in covert stealth operations to reach his desk on the 22nd floor of his office building."Given that he's traversing the entire 22 levels by stairs and sneaking around to avoid being caught all the while, one would suspect he wouldn't reach his destination until it's time to punch out anyway, but we digress. This is the task at hand, and fortunately, you're not alone.Gary's friend, Marty, is an expert at this sort of thing. Incidentally, he also no longer works at this place of employ, though he says he got out of there. Whether he was really helped out remains a mystery, but in any case, he offers helpful tips to Gary along the way, which leads to incorporating a number of your surroundings: Hiding your face behind newspapers, crawling into closets, trunks, and vents, and using donuts to bait security guards.
Whether you're into the "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" fighting approach, or you're perhaps more of a "crouching tiger, hidden dragon," it's safe to say that when it comes to being a ninja, your fighting style needs to be swift, controlled, and tight. You're not going to be around for very long if you can't dodge a simple shuriken to the face.Mobile ninja-em-up Nakama fails miserably to provide the sort of control that is required of a Shinobi warrior, while also piling on a rather confused difficulty curve, and action that is more a rambling bar fight than a well-implemented meeting of blades. There's style here for sure, but the gameplay itself needs a massive overhaul before it will approach anything that can be deemed entertaining."You are the last Shinobi of your village, and nasty enemy ninjas are looking to make sure you don't survive much longer. As you run to the right, each level consists of a couple of screens of generic ninjas to take out, before a slightly more tricky boss battle.Nakama's controls should be relatively simple. You're provided with A and B buttons - A slices, while B jumps. Hold A and you'll get a mega slice, while double-tapping B makes you rush through the air. You can also use a combination of A and B to slice through the air too. Sounds great so far - but in practice, it leaves a lot to be desired.
I've never been big on hunting games. It's not that I take issue with gunning down (mostly) defenseless virtual animals with ridiculously overpowered military hardware, although it is pretty ridiculous all things considered. It's just that I've never been able to get into them. And yet, oddly enough, I've found myself really getting into Deer Hunter 2014 and its simple yet oddly strategic gunplay.Deer Hunter 2014 is basically a collection of simple hunts for various types of wild animals. It's a bit less involved than most other hunting sims of course - most likely to cater to the pick-up-and-play mobile audience. Rather than tracking targets through the underbrush across acres of simulated woods, players simply strafe left and right across a limited area to get a better view of their prey. Instead of focusing on the chase, it's all about the kill shot. Where the animal is hit (head, heart, lungs, etc) can make all the difference."The money earned from each hunt can then be used to upgrade weapons or purchase new ones, which doesn't just make one a more efficient killing machine. Hunts have recommended loadouts (which can make success difficult if the advice isn't followed) and the occasional requirement that will prevent players from taking part until their gear is up to snuff, so no upgrades means no progress. Fortunately there are a number of different kinds of hunts to take on, including the more typical Hunting Series, the almost arcade-like Contract Hunt, and Trophy Hunts that can unlock new regions. There's almost always something to do to earn a bit of cash towards that next scope or rifle barrel.