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?
It might not look like much, but Chess Solitaire is a nice little puzzler that I'm enjoying. If you can get over the very basic presentation, you'll find something you can easily dip into when you need a distraction from the rest of the world.
Time for this week's Xbox Live review, and I've spent the last seven days working through Gerbil Physics, a delightful little puzzle game that should appeal to fans of explosions and saving cute little animals. We've seen something similar before on Windows Phone, but how much difference does the addition of a friendly rodent or two make?
