Ana Simpa Labras: Puzzle

Showing posts with label Puzzle. Show all posts

AAQR: 3D Bio Ball (game)

3D Bio Ball is one of those "tilt and move a ball in a maze" type games in full 3D, and has pretty visuals, along with extra elements like light, spring pads, "cannon", and so on. There's a story mode too, about how "Bolt" freed you to do a few things for him.

Play is not that special, as the ball is a little small, but I guess you do need to see the whole play field. The extra features are interesting. There is a tutorial mode with some sample levels.

Not bad. 6.5 out of 10.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/3d-bio-ball-hd/com.arbstudios.bioball

AAQR: Gem Spinner II (game)

This game doesn't work on my OG Droid with CM 7.1

http://www.appbrain.com/app/gem-spinner-ii/com.mycompany.gemspinner2paid

AAQR: iDemolished (game)

This was an Amazon Appstore Giveaway.

iDemolished is is a game where you are given certain amount of explosives, and you need to bring a building down so the debris is no higher than a certain specified height. The less money you use, and the lower the final height is, the higher is your score.

There is a lot of physics involved, as they have different types of material, some of which are only vulnerable to bigger explosives.

For true demolition effect, you can adjust the timing in 0.1 second intervals, as you want the building to collapse, usually by blowing up one side of it.

You can also influence the "gravity" a little bit by tilting the phone to one side.

There's like 100 levels for you to test your demolition skills on, and there are additional levels to download, and there's even an editor if you want to get really cute.

Definitely worth your time, even paid.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/idemolished/com.iauns.idemolished

AAQR: Gem Spinner (game)

NOTE: This game was given away on Amazon Free App of the Day (not any more)

Gem Spinner is a genre masher, combining Bejeweled and Tetris.

The field is full of different "pieces" each containing several colored gems. You need to make 3 consecutive gems (horizontal or vertical only) of same color. The catch is, you can only move gems INSIDE the piece. You cannot shift a gem across two different pieces. If you remove gems, that square turns "dark" and gems are removed, and more gems drop from above to "fill" the pieces. If you don't see obvious possibilities, you can "rotate" pieces (double tap the piece) 180 degrees and see if that gives you more ideas. If you turn ALL squares of the piece dark, that piece is removed from the board. The idea is to remove as many pieces as possible before the time limit expire. You can actually MOVE the pieces around when you have removed a few pieces already and have some room to maneuver.

Too complicated? Yes. It's hard to keep track of all this stuff in your head. Not a bad idea, but a bit too complicated for action puzzler.

(Link to be added later)

AAQR: Refraction (free, $1.99) game / puzzle

Refraction is a cute puzzle game that ultimately left me more frustrated than puzzled.

The premise is great: a light / color based puzzle. You need to use a few parts, like mirrors and prisms to get a proper colored light beam from "source" to "destination". There could be more than one of either.

The problem is with the arbitrariness of the puzzle pieces.

You see, with a mirror, the output is obvious. Rotate the mirror to move the beam... somewhat. Else, move the mirror.

With the prism, it ain't so simple. A prism divides a secondary color light back into two components, or it split a single primary color light beam into two. Or if you shine two beams into it you get a combo. In other words, it will "bend" the light. However, the path is completely arbitratry: one goes 45 degrees, while the other output is actually rotatable (huh?!) to a degree. Now does that make any sense?

And I admit, I'm not the brightest guy, but I'm stuck on level 4 (out of 120, really). You get two light beams... yellow, and blue. You need to make TWO green beams... using just 5 prisms. Bending one beam and split off some branches, okay. No problem there. recombining them? NOT so easy. Argh!

Still, it's worth a look. It is unique in a sea of Bejeweled clones and derivatives.

NOTE: The lite version has 20 levels, while the full version has 120 levels (which are NOT the same as the 20 in the lite version)

EDIT: Apparently on the prism you CAN move BOTH beams by tapping the prism itself and it toggles between the exit beams in splitter mode. (This game needs a TUTORIAL!)

Refractions Lite http://www.appbrain.com/app/refraction-lite/com.textualindices.refractionlite

Refractions Full http://www.appbrain.com/app/refraction/com.textualindices.refraction

AAQR: Spectrum Puzzles (free, $1.49)

Spectrum Puzzles is a puzzle where you try to reassemble a picture cut into pieces. The difficulty is that the pieces could have been rotated. You get 4 different sizes for the pieces (simple 3x3, more complicated 4x5, or you can go for crazy 20x20) as well as 3 levels of difficulty, as it depends on the amount of hints you get. If you need help knowing which way to rotate the piece, you can turn on piece hint (if it's the wrong side up, the border stays red). There's over a dozen puzzles for you to try, with different sizes and difficulty levels.

Not bad, but ain't that good either. Worth a try, at least? Chugs a little upon startup.

Free version http://www.appbrain.com/app/spectrum-puzzles-free/com.stevenhaley.spectrumpuzzlesfree

Full version http://www.appbrain.com/app/spectrum-puzzles/com.stevenhaley.spectrumpuzzles

AAQR: Wiz Kids Jr. (free, $0.99) (Game / Puzzle)

Wiz Kid Jr. is basically another variation on "link the tiles". The grid is square this time, and you need to get rid of as many linked tiles of same color as possible, minimum of 3 at a time. What's special? Some of those tiles at later level becomes "monsters" that will eat your mana. When they ate all your mana, game over! You get some special spells to beat back the monsters though... hammer breaks them one at a time, while later spells take them out in an area, and more.

It's basically a color / tile matching game, with a semi-coherent back story, but game wise it ain't that different.

Worth a try, I guess.

Wiz Kid Jr. Free Trial http://www.appbrain.com/app/wiz-kid-jr-free-trial/com.WizKidJrDemo

Wiz Kid Jr Full $0.99 http://www.appbrain.com/app/wiz-kid-jr/com.WizKidJr

AAQR: 180 / 180 Ultra (free, $1.99) game

180 / 180 Ultra is basically a relative of Tetris and Bejeweled. The premise is simple: the "tiles" keep falling from above. If they reach the bottom of the screen, it's game over! To remove the encroaching tiles, you can "shoot" your "next tile" at the dropping tiles to make 3-in-a-row, which will remove all touching tiles of same color (and if you can make other tiles make 3-in-a-row as well, you'll get chain bonus. If you don't see any tiles you can shoot, you can tap the tile to "flip" them to a different color. (You can flip your next tile also).

The mechanics are pretty simple, yet somewhat addictive. Not as simple as Bejeweled or Tetris, but a fun combo nonetheless.

Given away by Amazon Appstore for July 11th, 2011. Get it before it's too late!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005529BDK?ie=UTF8&ref=mas_faad

AAQR: Apparatus (game, physics, puzzle)

Apparatus is basically "The Incredible Machine" for the new generation with some 3D graphical flair.

The premise is simple: get the ball into the blue "basket", even if only for a moment, by using various tools available, usually gravity. You have various planks you can connect, power to motors to "paddle", and other tricks.

You will come up with very Rube Goldberg-type machines where one thing leads to another, then another... The one above has the ball getting "scooped" up the vertical chute by that motor with winch. The scoop is nailed together by several "planks".

There are dozens of levels, all of them challenging to a degree.

This was offered for free one day on Amazon AppStore, but the developer experienced very bad experience on it, and pulled it from Amazon. You have to buy it from Android Market now.

Works GREAT on tablets!

Definitely try the lite version first!

LITE version (free)
http://www.appbrain.com/app/apparatus-lite/com.bithack.apparatuslite

Full Version ($1.87)
http://www.appbrain.com/app/apparatus/com.bithack.apparatus

AAQR: Solitaire Deluxe (only available on Amazon Appstore)

Solitaire Deluxe
screenshot via Amazon Appstore

Solitaire Deluxe was given away a few days ago on Amazon Appstore. It is a very pretty implementation of various solitaire playing card games, from pyramid to klondike and a few in between. It also adds accomplishments and in-game "currency" or points to get perks like new card backs, new backgrounds, and so on. My only complaint with this game is its HUGE size and slow-startup... 17 MB in size! Fortunately, Move2SD shrank the size down to less than 2MB, but that's still a lot for just a game.

The production values are quite good, and there are various modes to play. I am just not sure if it's worth $4.99 (regular price). Furthermore, there's some rumblings among reviewers that the app lets you buy more ingame currency (with real money through micro purchases) to unlock more games. You start with 70 plays free, but what happens when that runs out on an app you already paid for? Hmmm...

Rating: try it, maybe? When they offer a demo...

http://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Deluxe-Solitaire/dp/B0057YPQVW

Ana Simpa Labras