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Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Push It! FREE

 Push It! is extremely popular at the App Store.  The object is to fill all the spots with balls. The sequence of sending the balls is all important.
The graphics are very good. However, I immediately thought about the game Zhed (see link below).
I was hoping for some new element. Orixio is basically the same, and later came out with Orixio with wormholes.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/push-it/id1474482918

Similar Games
Drop Pocket  from 2017
Zhed from 2017

Orixio from 2019
Orixio Wormhole from 2020

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

100×3 Logic Games by Andrea Sabbatini FREE



100×3 Logic Games comes from Andrea Sabbatini.  Once again produced a puzzle app that contains multiple puzzle genres.  This one has 14 games. 

At the moment, I am positively in love with the game called Picnic. See last image.
The concept of picnic: at the start there are picnic baskets. Each has a number on it. That number indicates where the blanket must be place.  Naturally, blankets cannot be vertically/horizontally adjacent to another. And no area of the lawn can be isolated from any other part of the lawn. 

I've spent about 2 hours on solving maybe 60 levels out of 300.  Did I mention that each game has 300 levels?

Andrea: you've hit another home run.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/100-3-logic-games/id1508571053?ls=1

Also by Andrea:
Park SeasonsHedgehog GardensPark Seasons
Parks and Landscapes

Monday, April 27, 2020

Six Match by Aaron Steed FREE

Six Match comes from Aaron Steed. The graphics are very 'old school'.  But the concept is very interesting.  

Your Man is the #6 tile. You have 6 moves -swapping with neighboring tiles - to create 3 in a row.  As soon as that happens, Your Man is re-energized back to 6.  If you cannot make a match - game over.

My high score is about 380. According to the Leaderboard, somebody has 29,000!  What are they doing?

Here's the deal: as you play the game, new features get added. Unfortunately, they are never explained. 

This game has so much potential. The graphics have to go. And there needs to be a tutorial.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/six-match/id1327790148

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Cube Escape: Paradox Rusty Lake FREE

 Cube Escape: Paradox is the 10th Cube Escape game from Rusty Lake.   This game came out in 2018, but I'm only now getting around to it, because, frankly, I had grown tired of Rusty Lake's creations.
 Their first game Cube Escape: Seasons, is simply fantastic.  Having played 12 of their other games, I got tired of some of the elements that in my mind, showed laziness on the Rusty Lake team.
 Examples: Having to find the 5 shattered pieces from a picture frame and fitting them together. Big yawn. Then there's the set of drawers that always has a knife in it and a book of matches. Each game is very good, but should be played not all at once.
 No more being negative.  Paradox is excellent.  Look at the second image of the brain.  That particular puzzle is so well done.  The Rusty Lake team hit a home run.
They must be swimming in dough, because they made an 18 minute live-action film that's really a trailor. High production, enticing, well-polished.

Whey you're done, there's a second version of Paradox that costs $1.99.  I've only just started it.

Watch the 18 minute trailor: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe1LNXl3yYWPNWeJT_AsP1w

https://apps.apple.com/app/id1372021096
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.RustyLake.CubeEscapeParadox

Other Rusty Lake Games I've played and reviewed:

Cube Escape: Birthday
Cube Escape: Case 23
Cube Escape: The Mill
Cube Escape: Harvey's Room
Cube Escape: The Lake
Cube Escape: Arles
Cube Escape: Seasons
Cube Escape: Theater
Cube Escape: The Cave
Rusty Lake: Hotel
Rusty Lake: Roots

Rusty Lake: Paradise

Friday, April 17, 2020

Cubether Lead the cubes to solution by Michal Barszczewski $1.99

 Cubether Lead the cubes to solution comes from Michal Barszczewski.  I stumbled on his game on twitter: https://twitter.com/mandigondo  and was immediately intrigued.
 Cubether is a 'minimalist' game. This moniker has become fashionable among very good puzzle app designers.  Essentially: play the levels and discover how the pieces move.
The object is to get the green pieces to merge and then get home. Green can only travel up/down.
The blues pieces can only move horizontally.
The orange pieces can move up/down & right/left. 
The pink moves diagonally only.
The key thing is that pieces can swap. A green, which is above a pink, can swap down.

Cubether is smart, sophisticated and pretty hard.  

Michal: your game is a home run!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cubether/id1486743100
http://mandigondo.com/press/sheet.php?p=cubether

Other 'Minimalist' games
Shapecraft
"klocki"
"Hook"
oO
"PUSH"
Up Left Out

NABOKI
Dotstep Minimalist
turn,
maze cube
cohex

-look-
SiNKR
Quaddro 2

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Balls. by Gamezaur FREE

 Balls. comes from Gamezaur. It's a point scoring game.  It reminds me of Bee Cells Lite from 2012.
The object is to score points by aligning the colored ball in lines or in squares.
Interesting features:
1. Some balls are locked in place.
2. See the red ball with wings in image 1? That ball can leap over and replace any other ball.
3. Bombs - when activated, they knock out the surrounding area of a 3x3 grid.
4. Because the grid is 5x5, each game goes pretty fast.

My high score is 881 which places me at #6 on the leaderboard.

Bee Cells: hexagonal grid. It tells you what colors the next 3 balls will be, but not the location.
Balls: the next 3 balls and their locations are always announced.

Gamezaur People: excellent little game. 
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/balls/id1496340087

Other games by Gamezaur that I reviewed:
Shapecraft
Ten Buttons
Sticks I believe this is no longer available.

Other Point Scoring Games Worthy of Your Time (Some are no longer available.)
NumberMania
Four Straight Lines
Pushopolous
Stickets
Folt
Nineout
Nineout II
BeeCells Lite
Kindly Colors
HexAgony
Domino Drop
Put Number
Tripevo
Triple Town
Kindly  Colors
COLORswipe
SubaraCity
Virus Pop Smash
+1 Number
4 Way Puzzle
Merged!
Enso

Friday, April 10, 2020

green (game) by Bart Bonte FREE

green (game) comes from Bart Bonte. I'm a big fan of his games.  They're fun, fast and free.
If you've been a Loyal Blog Follower, then you've played his other color games. See links below.
Green continues the trend.  Hints come with ads. I confess that I did consult them 5 or 6 times.

Altogether, this game took about 2 hours.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/green-game/id1502106711

Other Bart Puzzles:
Factory Balls - excellent
Boo! - a mini sequel to Factory Balls
Blocky XMAS - fun and at times hard

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Shape And Hue by Michal Gorny FREE

Michal Gorny recently contacted me about his new game Shape And Hue. It's a lovely visual jigsaw puzzle.  

 Your task is to swap individual tiles to reveal the mosaic image. At the moment, I've solved 10 of the 100 levels.  Each level, so far, has 1 piece that's fixed - usually in the corner.  I'm guessing that's not available in later rounds.

Michal made the game Hexa Knot, which I reviewed in 2018.


https://apps.apple.com/us/app/shape-and-hue/id1504053680

Monday, April 6, 2020

Sudoku Evolved by Max Q Software LLC $.99

Daniel Greenheck recently contacted me about his game Sudoku Evolved. It's a 3-D version.  Each puzzle has 5 sudokus: front, back, right, left & top.  Important: he edges are shared. Which means all the puzzles are connected.
I solved 1 level at 'medium'. I thought it was easy - but still took a while to solve.

The next day I solved 1 level at 'hard'.  This took about 1 - 1.5 hours. I played this game on my small iphone (I have no idea which model it is.). Playing this game was very calming.

The graphics are very polished. A feature I particularly like: tap on, say 3, and all the 3's on that face get highlighted.

Note to Daniel: Good job. Thanks for the promo codes.  Check out the variations below for fun and inspiration.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sudoku-evolved/id1488161437

Other Sudoku Variations
Sixy Sudoku Small grids - perfect for beginners
Sandwich Sudoku Positively love this. Hard
Kropk'i Sudoku  This is really a Latin Square with a couple of innovative ideas. It plays fast.
Quindoku Same as Logi5PuzzLogi5Puzz  Same as NumDom. But NumDom has larger grid sizes.Spindoku is totally different, but still very cool.Hi-Lo Sudoku is one of my favorite variations.Cryptdoku I played it so long ago, but it's cool. Long gone from the App Store.Stimko Gold - outstanding version of squiggly Sudoku.  Handcrafted puzzles.Kakooma - interesting for about 3 levelsRollDoku - never even solved 1 level, so hardCohabit- played this on my ipod touch - before ipad was inventedFlowDoKu - one of my favorites. Will not delete this.Sudoku Mine combines Sudoku with MinesweeperSudoku Killer  combines Sudoku with Kakuro. I've spent a lot of time on this one. I can do the easy levels in about 10 minutes.3Doku - a cubic version of SudokuPokergreen Puzzles - a poker version of SudokuStar SudokuSudoku MazeSudoku SpinSudoku SweeperJoint Number PlaceFutoshikiSudoCubedRotadoku

Sudoku Octangles