The song. THE SONG! Dear Zeus the song will not leave my head! Why is the baby monkey riding on the back of that pig? AND WHY IS IT FACING BACKWARDS?!! *pulls hair out*
Baby Monkey (going backwards on a pig) (iPhone, iPod Touch) - Baby monkey! Baby monkey! It's the baby monkey game, baby monkey! Grab a banana! Crash through a pumpkin! Backwards on a pig, baby monkey! And that's all you need to know! Make the monkey jump, make the pig jump, collect bananas, avoid non-banana things. That's about all there is, but it's so sugar-sweet cute, you'll try again and again with this arcade-style running game. Extra super bonus challenge: play the game for 30 seconds and spend the next hour trying to get the song out of your head!
Push Morty Push (universal) - The block pushing sokoban puzzle genre shall live forever, and games like Push Morty Push ensure that the experience never gets old. Tap on the screen to send Morty to any unoccupied square. To move blocks around, tap them then tap where you want them to go. The goal is to shove all the blocks to their proper locations in the warehouse, thus opening new areas to explore. It's a simple set-up that's executed extraordinarily well. The controls are spot-on, and the game never tried to trick you with lame gimmicks, providing solid sokoban action from beginning to end. The Push Morty Push FREE is also available.
Connectrode (universal) - Enjoy puzzle games that take some time to really get into? Then meet your new addiction! Your goal is to connect little connectrodes by placing the chips that appear at the top of the screen. One at a time you fill the grid, making sure you don't block off areas as you go. The more connectrodes you include in a match, the higher your score. Building large chains of connectrodes is extremely tough to do and takes a lot of practice, strategizing, and more practice. But it pays off! A simple game that's easy to get into but difficult to master, sort of like the iOS puzzle game from Jason Rohrer, Primrose.
Touch Detective (iPhone, iPod Touch) - A few years ago, a cute-looking point-and-click mystery game was released for the Nintendo DS by the name of Touch Detective. Now, that very same title has been ported to iOS, bringing the same cartoonish gothic art style to the mobile scene. And it's made the transition without a hitch! Control detective Mackenzie as she solves mysteries in her small (but strange) home town. A reviewer once noted the game's visual style was like "a Tim Burton version of a Jhonen Vasquez comic", which is a nigh-perfect comparison for the stellar artwork in this game. Includes new content as well as chapters unlockable via in-game purchases.
NOTE: Games noted as 'universal' have been designed for iPod Touch, iPad, and iPhone devices alike. Any game not listed for iPad will work on the system, but native full screen will not be present. Games listed may not be available outside of North America. Prices are subject to change and are therefore unlisted. Please see the individual game pages for purchasing info.
Push Morty Push is pretty cool. Seemed pretty easy. But the last level on the free version started getting challenging. So I'm sure the full version is pretty challenging too. The description at the app store, said almost 200 levels. I'll probably buy the full version. For a tight wad like me ... that's saying something lol
I remember Touch Detective on DS....I tried very hard to like that game, and played it all the way through, but DAMN, the puzzle logic is infuriating. Starts off strong, but quickly devolves into combining every item with every other item and every character in order to proceed. Also commits the cardinal adventure game sin of having certain dialog options hidden with certain characters until you talk to other characters first, so you have to talk to everyone to figure out who to talk to, then talk to everyone AGAIN to see if any new dialog options were unlocked for them, or if any of the useless items you JUST tried using on them now seem to work for no good reason at all.
One particular puzzle comes to mind where you have to intuit (no in game references are given to help) that you are supposed to stick a bicycle pump into the butt of a chicken to inflate it into a balloon to float away. HOW are you supposed to figure that out?
Touch Detective! I love those games! I own both of the ones on the DS, and I'm glad to see that the series isn't quite dead. There actually is a predictable system to finding the right hint you need, mostly involving frequent visits to Cromwell...although some of the puzzles are definitely eccentric.
Personally I think it's the type of game where a second playthrough is more enjoyable after a long break - to forget the plot twists and remember helpful little tidbits makes it much less of a pain in the end. :)
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