ZONR, from the master if bite-sized iOS games Klick Tock (creator of Doodle Find, Little Things, Super Search 60), will engage you for longer than you'll care to admit. The simple reflex game is focused on quick recognition skills, challenging you to act fast, act decisively, and recover from your mistakes without hesitation. Stressful? Never! More fun than it ought to be? You bet!

A round of ZONR lasts 90 seconds, and during that time, you'll stare at dozens of block arrangements, each featuring a number of different sized shapes. All you need to do is touch the largest shape in the bunch, then you move on to the next screen. Simple, but as the challenge ramps up, you'll have to be both precise and fast at the same time. Chaining together correct touches starts a score multiplier and gives you more compact block arrangements that are more difficult to decipher. Touch the wrong block, however, and your multiplier goes down, taking the difficulty down a notch with it.

ZONR is all about getting a good score, comparing that score to other ZONR players, and unlocking new skins by playing rounds over and over again. You can change the look of the game by swiping to the side on the main menu. Each skin gives you a different color scheme and a different background. The changes are only cosmetic, but in a game like this, looks matter!

Analysis: ZONR is simple, easy to figure out how to play, and wildly conducive to short bursts of play. If you've got a spare minute and a half, you can play a round of ZONR, making any excuse you could come up with not to play sound pretty lame. Homework to do? It's just a minute or two! Gotta get to work on time? 90 seconds won't matter! Brain surgery patient waiting in operating room four? Maybe a quick round to hone your reflexes!

Forming a strategy is important in ZONR, even though it looks like a game of pure reflexes. Because your score goes up more by correct guesses, it's more of an advantage to touch the right shape slowly than it is to select the wrong one quickly. Wildly hitting things on the screen will get you practically nowhere, whereas deliberate tapping is the key to success.

Simple games are king on the iOS platform, and ZONR never tries to over-complicate itself. Pure, repeatable fun with good incentives to go back and fight for a better score. Go on, you can break 500,000, you know you can!

ZONR

(universal)