Time for something that is a little bit more straightforward in terms of goals, gameplay, and complexity. Little Acorns is an arcade game, pure and simple, and it's all the better for this tight focus. There are some genres that respond well to complexity, but the 2D platformer is not one of them. Thankfully developers Chilingo have avoided the temptation to do anything fancy with the game.
Even though money is being invested in mobile web sites, the key players in the media landscapes are turning to mobile applications to help deliver their stories, features and news to their readers. Next up in the list of news apps for Windows Phone, the New York Times. How does this app compare to other similar apps?
Would you believe it? Triangula is another quirky and insanely playable gaming title from Beautiful Mind Games. I'm not sure what they're doing to find some of these gaming concepts (the defence calls Pairanoia and Permutile as witnesses), but they've managed it once more with this two player competitive game that echoes childhood games but with a brilliiant twist.
How do you get your news? Many people head to the BBC (I know it's one of the first bookmarks I add to any smartphone to see how the browser copes), but in an app world surely a BBC News application is the way forward, and not the humble web browser? That's what Lawrence Gripper thinks, and he's put together his own rather popular BBC News app for Windows Phone.
Sally's Spa (or as it is listed in the Marketplace, Sallys Spa) is the sequel to Sally's Salon, previously available on Xbox Live in an 'LE' (Luxury Edition) version which took the price to £3.99. Spa is a slightly less expensive £2.99, so is it obviously less luxurious. Unfortunately yes, this is an Xbox Live title that feels more like a contractual obligation than a game title that someone has developed with love and enthusiasm.
Unfortunately not a sequel to Doodle Jump (reviewed here), Gamelion's mix of jigsaw and Tetris makes its way to Windows Phone, and provides just as much of an addictive challenge as its arcade namesake. With fun graphics and 100 levels plus 250 solutions to track down, there's a huge amount of value here.
As the school summer holidays stretch out into the distance across the United Kingdom, parents might be looking for something to make the days pass a little bit quicker. As another long seven weeks come to a close in Edinburgh (this city runs about four weeks ahead of the rest of the country), can I recommend Origami HD?
With a sumptuous 3D environment, TV-style pocket cameras, spin/swerve control and full online multiplayer mode, Pool Pro Online has a lot to recommend it. The limitations of Windows Phone's resolution do rather work against really precise gameplay though, and the built-in AI for offline games is poor in the extreme. Still, my favourite pool simulation yet on the platform.
Here's one of those applications that's practical without screaming out that it's a 'must have' when you stumble over it in the Marketplace. Parking Pal UK will help you find a car park anywhere in the British Isles, along with details on the cost, capacity, and in some cases provide you real time information on how many free spaces are available.
Back in my day we all used to buy music on CD (legal). Back in the following generation's day (early 2000s), the thing to do was to pirate music from file sharing sites (illegal). One phenomenon I've observed in the current day (2010 onwards) is that youngsters, rather than even bother to pirate music, simply play the appropriate YouTube video and, often, leave it running in the background on their device (legal but awkward). Yes, bandwidth really has become that plentiful, it seems. Mp3Tube is a utility that tried to take the same idea but makes it one step more efficient by downloading the music from that source (a legally very grey area!) - an approach which kind of works but which isn't without massive caveats.
