The fundamentals of match-3 games have become so universal in the industry today, that even robots are now getting their bolts and antennas in on all of the fun. Blitz Block Robo takes traditional match-3 concepts and fuses them together with an interesting sliding mechanic, which results in a somewhat flexible, but still inherently rigid game board and player experience. But if robots are supposed to be good with such calculated maneuvers and automatic non-emotive actions as matching colors, then why does this latest spin on the successful genre feel like just another glitch in the overarching match-3 system?
Similar to the original Mahjongg Dimensions and Arkadium studio's newer offering Taptiles Saga, Mahjongg Dimensions Unblocked takes the classic tile-matching game of mahjongg solitaire and shoves it into true 3D. Match tiles and rotate the cube as you save helpless cubies from the mean ole red cubie!
Ittle Dew makes no secret of its gaming inspiration. The colorful action-adventure puzzler parodies and pays homage to The Legend of Zelda in gameplay, visual style, and playful jabs throughout its tightly-packed journey. Yet Ittle Dew is far from a Zelda clone; a streamlined focus on puzzle-solving within a bizarre new world creates an experience all its own. That experience should appeal to both fans and non-fans of the classic series, as well as anyone with an affinity for deviously challenging puzzles wrapped in self-referential humor.
There's no shortage of Arukone-inspired puzzles on the App Store: Flow Free is the most well-known, but games like Wire Storm, Number Link, and Lost Cubes all require players to connect two like ends via a single, unbroken line. Fizzy Factory follows in the colorful footsteps of these puzzle predecessors, but introduces a bevy of original ideas that makes its experience new, challenging, and refreshingly fun.
Puzzlers on the iOS platform are a dime a dozen, so if you plan on releasing yet another one into the wild, you need a selling point to keep your ideas fresh. Despite its relatively simple setup and user interface, Compulsive is a tricky puzzler with plenty to offer by way of addictive fun. It may be a barebones effort, but it's slick, organized, and it knows how to eat up hours of your time.
Droidscape: Basilica could be like nothing we've ever played before. Whether this results from its head-tracking gameplay, stop-motion animation, or surprisingly in-depth backstory, at least one feature of the futuristic action-puzzler is bound to resonate with players. More likely, all the promising pieces will work together to create a symphonic swell of iOS gaming bliss greater than the sum of its parts, but we still want to discuss those parts anyway.
How deep are your pockets? Hopefully deep enough to hide all the little toys and trinkets you'll have snagged by the end of this game! Tiny Thief is the second title published by Rovio Stars, after last month's exciting Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage, and the quality in execution has magnified by tenfold. In many ways, Tiny Thief could very well be the first point-and-click adventure and stealth hybrid that has the potential to reach App Store Essential status, alongside mobile staples like Cut the Rope and Where's My Water? And thankfully, the gameplay and presentation are just as superb.
Right off the bat, Toki Tori 2+ feels different than its 2001 predecessor. Instead of a lengthy narrative intro detailing the reason for Toki Tori's adventure, we're thrust into his chicken feet, plodding forward as dangerous geysers of oil burst out of the ground. Toki's friends scatter before us, leaving the plump, eponymous hero alone in a deteriorating world. Toki pushes onward, through the vast island that has replaced the singular stages of Toki Tori, ready to reunite with his flock and save the day once more.