Sometimes, when you're on the run, you just need a quick gaming fix. AE Doodle Dash takes that notion rather literally. This doodle style game tests your reactions and sense of timing as you dash across the screen, jumping deadly doodled dangers. It sounds simple, but in game design, less can be more, so join us on our review to see if AE Doodle Dash is worth running to the Marketplace for.
Cut the Rope has a lot going for it. A huge number of puzzles, an accurate physics engine, intricate level design, it's quick to play by design, and it's very bright and colourful. The only problem is that mobile gamers will have seen it all before on other platforms, because it has taken more than two years to release Cut the Rope for Windows Phone.
The third of Nokia's Xbox Live releases this past weekend was Jet Set Go, a time management game that anyone who is familiar with the genre will be instantly comfortable with. But they won't find anything new or exciting in this generic title.
Ah yes. The one-button game, in this case a helicopter that has to stay in the air and avoid crashing into oncoming cavern walls - it's a very familiar concept. Except that Karmic Apps have made that just the starting point and have built a decent arcade shooting game on top of it, complete with variations in aircraft, enemies, weaponry and scenery. Intriguingly, there's also a whole new way of monetising a mobile game that I hadn't seen before - I'm not sure I'm a fan, but full marks for lateral thinking!
Shooting games are a staple of gaming, but sometimes they just stray too close into uncomfortable territory. That's where the latest Xbox Live title, Big Buck Hunter Pro, sits. Solid graphics and realistic sound effects add to the effect. The developers have done a good job here, but when your starting point is recreating the traumatic scenes from Bambi, it's a tough sell.
Calling all space cadets, we are not alone, the universe is full of aliens and they want to destroy the Earth! All you have to do is load up Smashing Planets on your Windows Phone device. This arcade action game challenges your reaction times and anticipation skills, in a similar way to how Missile Command did in the good old days of computer gaming. How well does Smashing Planets translate the genre? Read on to find out.
Sometimes there comes along a smartphone game that simply enchants me when I first run it, and it never lets go. There are a lot of games that can do that in the first ten minutes of play, but for a title to be really special it needs to retain that feeling in the following hours and days. Carcassonne is one such title. Its availability on Xbox Live has been promised since the start of the year, and now it's here, I've let out a little cheer.
Time for some puzzling fun to kick off the week. Move your block through an isometric world and collect the tiles and reach the exit. While Cubed Reloaded isn't going to break new ground in terms of design, control, or ambition, it does achieve what it sets out to do with a sense of style.
Cracking Sands has a tough challenge. It's a kart racing game on a mobile device, and I've not found a really good kart game on Windows Phone since it was launched. Polarbit though are a known quantity, and have done some really good apps in the past, and if anyone could step up to the challenge, it would be them. Have they? Read on.
Released over the weekend, Electronic Arts' version of Connect 4 is another Nokia exclusive title. This is either a title that can help convince people to switch towards Nokia's Windows Phone, or another missed opportunity. Would you be surprised if I said it was the latter?
