There’s never really a check-list for success with anything in life, but if there were then Gravimaze would be ticking all of the boxes of the Decent ios Puzzle Game one. It just does all the things any handheld puzzle game should.
Since this is an educational game, allow me to fill you in with a little education on Celebrity Calamity‘s history. It’s an iOS translation of a 2009 Flash game of the same name made by Peter Tufano, now Dean and Professor of Finance at Said Business School but at the time a financial management professor at no less than Harvard. It won a Houston Interactive Award.
As a big fan of classic simulation games like Theme Hospital and Sim City 2000, I’ve more than enjoyed Kairosoft’s resurrection of the genre on iOS. Mega Mall Story was hands-down one of my favorite games of last year, a dangerously addictive retail translation of Theme Park at an absolute bargain price. So I was hopeful of seeing this year’s parallel to Mega Mall Story when acclaimed iOS publisher Chillingo decided to dip their toes into the simulation pool with Toy Factory. Unfortunately the game is not up to the publisher’s typical standards – not even nearly. At its best it serves as an appreciably free reminder that a cute idea isn’t enough to make a simulation game work.
I’ve never attended an Oscar Awards party. In fairness, I’m a Brit rather than some weirdo who’s prudish about staying up past oh-my-god 7pm. Still, it’s a sad indictment on my cultural nous that I’ve hosted drinking games (responsible ones) for the Eurovision Song Contest six years in a row and not once watched someone with actual talent win an Academy Award live. While it won’t provide the enlightenment required to stop me downing shots (responsibly) to the sound of “Belgique, douze points,” Awards Pool 2012 is at least a start.
First off, let’s be clear. This isn’t the Android Angry Birds-like game Pandas vs Ninjas. In fact it’s nothing like that game except for the fact that it features pandas and ninjas – and honestly, what games worth talking about don’t? In Panda vs. Ninjas we’re talking about a singular panda who’s able to take out ninjas by landing on them. The game is a puzzle-platformer that takes a leaf out of And Yet it Moves, an excellent little indie title that started life out on the PC but eventually made its way to WiiWare in 2010.
Armed and Gorgeous is a 3D hack-and-slash game featuring a demoness who’s fighting off hordes of enemies while revealing the vast majority of her body. The line between making commentary on gaming’s ignominious history with scantily-clad nubile heroines and just plain featuring a scantily-clad nubile heroine in a game is a fine one, and like with Bayonetta it’s hard to tell which side of the line Armed and Gorgeous sits. The outfits unlocked later reference Tomb Raider and Soulcalibur, and the cut scene cartoons make a point of stretching her caricatured body to ridiculous proportions.
iOS games often make me consciously realize the things I subconsciously want. I didn’t know I wanted a game depicting bird-pig warfare, or one in which I played a air traffic controller working at the world’s busiest and most dangerous airport.
A few months ago we were impressed by The Secret of Grisly Manor, Fire Maple’s first foray into the point-and-click adventure genre (surely just touch adventure on iOS?). It was simple but charming, knowing of its storytelling limits but beautifully produced all the same. The Lost City, their second foray, is not all that different to summarize but maybe has an edge on Grisly Manor thanks to the more enchanting location and the excellent way players will have to switch through seasons to make their way through this picturesque Atlantis.
One Epic Game seems like an antithetical moniker for a PSP Mini game, but that’s where Grip Games’ perpetual motion platformer originally released last summer. While it was acclaimed by critics, like many Minis released onto the PlayStation Network it was rather neglected. Of course, the spiritual home for a Canabalt-like game is undoubtedly on iOS, and now that OEG has made it home I hope it receives the grand reception it deserves because it is truly excellent.
On the PC, Machinarium shone as a point-and-click adventure game that didn’t need dialogue to catch the eye, instead relying on its unusual, lateral-thinking puzzles and lovingly detailed visual style. After playing it for a few minutes, I thought The Passenger from Loading Home might prove to be its spiritual sibling on iOS.