Oh dear. Last week's release of a comedy kart driving game in the Xbox Live store caught my eye, as it's a genre that I enjoy. It's got a huge amount of branding over it so you never forget that this is a Pac-Man game (no I'm not going to capitalise it all the way through the review), but it's missing many elements that could make it an acceptable game.
How do you fancy seeing the world through the window of a food truck? For some reason that's the dream of Bonnie, the titular character in Bonnie's Brunch, now available for Windows Phone. Preparing and serving food has never been as colourful or fun, as this time management game from Funny Lab Studios proves.
It might have been around for the last year, gathering fans and turning them into addicts, but now that Wordament has hit the Xbox Live branding, it's going to be discovered by a much larger audience - and mobile word play gaming will never be quite the same. Has the underground indie hit made a successful transition? Yes it has.
Look past the quirky name that sounds like a comedy cop show on Bravo TV and you'll find that Jellies vs Paul is a smart puzzle game for Windows Phone, mixing "obsessive collection" with the "escape the maze" genre. This is definitely one for the puzzle fans out there, but it's accessible enough that it could become a sleeper hit for the platform.
You wouldn't think that Curling would make an absorbing game for Windows Phone, but thankfully the team at MaxNick decided otherwise. Curling3D brings the target game from the ice rink into your Windows Phone handset with a delightful mix of graphics and computer AI, to provide a big gaming challenge.
It's another strategy game. It's another strategy game on Xbox Live. It's another strategy game on Xbox Live from Sid Meier. But the difference between Pirates! and Civilization Revolution (reviewed last week on AAWP) is that Pirates! trades the longevity of Civilization to reduce the difficulty and make the game more approachable for those new to the game.
The long running strategy franchise has reached Xbox Live for your Windows Phone. First released back in 1991, it's a solid game that has a huge number of fans that's balanced by people who simply cannot get into the game with its huge depth and scope. How does it cope with Microsoft's smartphone platform? Let's find out.
What do you get if you cross Tetris with Angry Birds with Breakout? Ultra Fill, for Windows Phone. While not perhaps as comprehensive or as earth shattering as the titles I just name dropped, there are certainly elements of each present and correct here, and with a price of £free it's hard not to smile a little at this surprisingly addictive little casual game.
iStunt 2 is not unique to the Windows Phone platform. Like many developers, Mobiclip have pushed most of their titles out to all the major platforms, and not just on mobile - they have Flash versions of many of their games so you can play them in your browser. Which means I greeted the the arrival of iStunt 2 into Xbox Live as an old friend come to pastures new. Would it still be a great game on Windows Phone?
Oh dear. It's really hard to make a wonderful game on any platform, but hitting the 'acceptable' level should be something that is easily achievable, especially if you are working on a title like Pro Evolution Soccer 2012. But Konami Digital have managed to miss it completely. If you don't want to know the result, look away now. For everyone else, just avoid this one, okay?
