And so the next big name in the 'not quite Scrabble genre' arrives on Windows Phone. In term of broad strokes, there's little difference between this title and Words by Post (reviewed here). Both titles are played on a board that's an adaption of the Scrabble standard, with more bonus squares in better positions for high scores and combinations; both games allow local play but are stronger when playing friends or random opponents no matter where they are in the world, on a turn by turn basis; and both have subtle hooks into your social networks. But which is better?
No matter how minimal and stylish Metro UI can be (and I know that's a discussion piece that could open up a huge amount of debate), there are always people ready to bend it as much as they can without breaking it. Those live tiles just call out to be edited, tweaked, spun, photo-shopped, pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, or numbered. But without some help that's not an easy task for the regular user. And as if on cue, over the horizon comes WizTiles.
A brand new game from a UK based developer for Windows Phone? Hold us back! Electric Pixel Factory got in touch with us here at AAWP to let us know about its debut release, Gorilla Gondola. Would we like to have a look at? It has a gorilla... on a gondola... collecting fruit... Err, okay.
There's more than one online bookstore in the world, and if you search the Windows Marketplace then you'll find something that's... not Amazon. UK book retailer Waterstones has a strong online presence, and its Windows Phone application puts its full catalogue at your fingertips, assuming you know exactly what you are looking for.
Fragger has a simple storyline, and a lot of life has been put into the presentation of the website and screenshots. It has a lot of military imagery around it, with armour, bunkers and grenades. But when you take this away you discover that Fragger is another "throw things to kill things" game, albeit one which is done extremely well, with a lot of challenge and longevity. And, as I wrote before when it appeared on Symbian, all you have to remember is that this is not Angry Birds.
Pixel Blocked is fantastic. You can go and read the rest of the review if you want (and I bet most of you will) but I know I've found the first puzzle game on Windows Phone that I really connect with. It may already be available for the Xbox Console and on the PC, but I've found it on Windows Phone, so it's Windows Phone Puzzle Game #1 in my mind! Here's why.
Word games seem to be under-appreciated in the gaming genre. Notwithstanding the huge amount of praise they get from reviewers and the general public, it's tough to think of a gaming title that has had success outside of the Scrabble-sequel Words By Post/Words With Friends style of gaming. Unfortunately, Text Twist 2 is not going to change that.
I have to confess that I'm something of a connoisseur of pool games on handhelds and smartphones, running firstly on my Palm Tungsten T3 early in the last decade and then on my Symbian smartphones. I've played more frames of virtual pool on handheld devices than you've had hot dinners. Discarding any prejudice about the cartoon 'look' of Doodle Pool, what really matters is whether it's a great pool game or not.
For all the shiny Metro squares, flowing graphics and sleek presentation, your Windows Phone still needs to get on the Internet and find the information you want. If that's browsing websites to get the latest news, you'll be wanting an RSS reader that fits in with the UI, but still gets you all the text you need. Have you considered Weave?
The "running" game genre has a number of variants for Windows Phone (we've looked at one recently in Tsotsi), but Running Dude is a step above others that I have seen. Why? Because it manages to be impressive in three different areas... control, game-play, and presentation.
