In what is a sentence that I'm about to have taken wildly out of context from this point onwards, the "match-3" sub-genre shares a key similarity with the works of William Shakespeare. That being: it's at the focal point of people's obsession with "reinvention." In the same way you'd be hard pressed to go watch a performance of Hamlet today without hearing about the bold choice to set it in a dystopian future or the wild west, each new jewel, orb, or color-matching release comes complete with a twist.
Matt Rix has been a little quiet on the gaming front ever since he released the fantastic App Store hit Trainyard way back in 2010. But now Rix has teamed up with fellow Canadian developer Owen Goss of Landformer fame to start Milkbag Games, and the duo's first release looks like a wintry mix of snow flurries and fun. Snow Siege is an exciting (and chilly) take on the real-time tower defense genre, with adorable 2D graphics and fluid animations to match.
Cheesy Chess is a cute, challenging logic puzzler with very simple rules based on the timeless game of chess, but it suffers somewhat from a lack of gameplay variety. Chess aficionados (or those who aspire to be) may love it, but the truth is that once you've seen one level, you have, for all practical purposes, seen them all.
If we were to make a short list of the best mobile physics puzzlers, Disney's Where's My Water? would be right up there with Angry Birds and Cut the Rope. It's just that good. And while we've enjoyed its many content updates and spin-offs (what Phineas and Ferb fan doesn't love Where's My Perry?), there's one question that's yet to be answered: could Disney do it again?
What if you woke up one day to find out you'd been framed for a crime you didn't commit? This is the exact situation the protagonist of Framed found himself in. And rather than give up and hope the legal system deemed him innocent, he decided to run like hell and hope for the best.
Sometimes it's the simple pleasures that are best, like popping bubble wrap. PUK is one such game, with a simple repetitive action that turns out to be far more fun and satisfying than it has any right to be.
I can totally understand holding a grudge, but that Montezuma and his revenge? That's just cold, man. On the other hand, everyone's favorite Aztec emperor has been associated with more pleasant things, including the Treasures of Montezuma Blitz game that both iOS and Android gamers will soon be able to enjoy. Match-3 to your heart's content, all without having to worry about running to the bathroom.
Admit it—we've all had the same thought from time to time: "Why oh why can't there be a match-three puzzle game that combines the stripped-down brilliance of Bejeweled with the evolutionary excitement of Pokemon?" Seriously…it's been a major problem since the dawn of games. Well these concerns can finally be laid to rest thanks to developer appxplore's (Sporos) newest release, Alien Hive.