Take on the forces of capitalism, mix it with a love of building new things, and graft on a simple freemium gaming mechanic to allow in-app purchasing. Basic ingredients that in the wrong quantities can doom a sim-style game. Thankfully, this title misses most of the pitfalls of the genre, and makes some smart design decisions on how to address 'snacking' mobile gameplay to bring you 'My Country', one of the better games I've seen in this genre.
Cricket games don't always fare well on computers, let alone phones, with their smaller screens. So many players and styles and possibilities to model and control. Yet World Cricket Championship, reviewed here, handles the classic English sport almost faultlessly. It's true, it's slanted massively towards modern styles of play, with big strokes commonplace and super-short matches, but this is easy to forgive in a phone title, for which a ten minute game session is just about perfect.
Finally arriving on Windows Phone 8 is Square Enix's mobile RPG smash, Chaos Ring. Already an established property on other platforms, how well has it made the jump to Microsoft's platform? Pretty well, is the answer, and I think a lot of RPG'ers are going to enjoy this one, although their wallet will be a lot lighter as a result!
There's a certain cheeky slice of humour on show in Rubicon Mobile's tactical combat title 'Great Big War Game'. From the moustached generals to the cheeky soldiers reporting in from the battlefield, Rubicon play their fighting hand with a light touch that makes this title accessible and fun to play.
You can't really fail in your game when it comes to Zombies - it's the ultimate survival situation, there's very little description or story needed beyond 'OMG Zombies!' and you have a huge range of tropes and clichés that will be expected. But if you're a Bristol-based game developer called Chris Roberts, then you look at the genre zombie and decide that what the gaming genre really needs is... a collectible card game.
It's called Tower Defense. Striving to be the default version of a popular genre is a bold claim, but this 'self-titled' Tower Defense game has probably earned the right to that moniker. If you're looking for a slice of retro infused tactical gaming on your Windows Phone, this is the one to buy. Here's why.
Some words for the weekend? Only if you're ready to challenge your friends to find the most words! As the summer continues to shine down, let's take a closer look at Ruzzle, the multi-platform wordsearch game from Sweden's Mobile Access Group.
The 'can you name this' genre of games is a popular one in the Windows Phone store, and we've mentioned a few before (such as 4 Pictures 1 Word). They can be quick to program, but they all need a bit of polish to become more than a distraction. Movie Junkie has that style, along with some tricky puzzles and a forgiving text parser that helps it to stand out from the pack.
Hold on, Gameloft releasing Uno for Windows Phone? Haven't they done this already? Indeed they have, but Uno And Friends has something that was missing from the previous release... online multiplayer through your Xbox Live account. But it also has an expensive sting in the tail.
This is another of Nokia's exclusive Xbox Live titles that is part of the deal with Electronic Arts. That's the same deal that has seen titles like FIFA 13, Real Racing 2, and Tiger Woods 12, come to the Lumia platform. If you ever wondered what the downside of that deal was, strap yourself in, it's time to find out.
