English Country Tune for iPhone and iPad has got to be both the best and most challenging puzzle game I've come across on the iPhone or iPad to date. There are 17 different worlds, each with their own objectives and filled with 3-dimensional levels.

So far, I've mainly spent my time in two worlds: Larve and Adv Larva. The objective in both of these worlds is to move the spheres, called larve, into the cubes, called incubators, by directing the flat square along the world to push the larve to where they need to be. The levels start out easy and primarily 2-dimenional, but quickly turn into challenging 3-dimensional puzzles that really makes you think. When pushing a larve over an edge, the direction it moves is dependent on how your square is positioned when it pushes it. It's hard to explain, and the way the game described this rule was a bit confusing, but after some experimentation, I was able to figure it out. Some may find this irritating, but it honestly didn't bother me because, to me, figuring out the rules and patterns is part of the puzzle.

It's hard to describe in words what the gameplay of English Country Tune is like, so please check out the video of the game in action below. I've only seen a small part of what this game can offer, yet already know that English Country Tune is a game I will enjoy playing for a very long time. It requires an immense amount of analytical skills -- and as a mathematician, I really appreciate this attribute. But I did warn you -- it's hard.

The Good

• Unique gameplay
• Challenging
• A lot of levels
• Many times, there is more than one level available for play

The Bad

• Borderline too difficult
• Directions are vague

The Conclusion

You don't play English Country Tune to have fun. You play English Country Tune to be challenged. To exercise your brain. To feel that immeasurable amount of satisfaction and pride when you do complete a level.

4.99 - Download Now

YouTube Link

Trainyard for iPhone combines simplistic graphics and design with puzzles that are not so simple. The concept of the game is to get all the trains into the correct stations without a collision. The first several levels will teach you the basics but after that, you'll definitely be scratching your head.

[iTunes Link]

After learning a couple basics, you'll quickly be sending trains into the correct stations. Then you'll gradually learn more maneuvers and techniques as the courses get more difficult. One thing I really liked about Trainyard is the progression. You don't feel bored but the levels don't overwhelm you either. Before each new trick or maneuver, you'll spend several levels getting to know techniques before adding another.

You'll need to learn techniques such as crossing tracks and merging trains. In some stations, you'll have two trains and a hub that's a different color. For instance, if you have a station that will only accept a green train, you'll need to combine a blue train with a yellow in order to make one green train. The game will only use primary color trains and if you make a bad mix, you'll get an ugly brown train, which no station will accept.

As you get further into the game, you'll have to combine several techniques to get the correct patterns. There isn't only one right solution to many levels though. While you may solve a level one way, another user may solve it another way. Trainyard also lets you upload your solutions to help other users. If you get stuck on a level, you can always view how other users solved those levels on the Trainyard site.

Each level will have a star amount it's worth. You'll need to collect a certain amount of stars in order to unlock new cities. Once you collect all the stars, you'll unlock expert mode which will give you access to even more levels.

Levels also give you the option to clone them. This will let you solve the puzzle more than once since there can literally be hundreds of possible combinations for each level. So if you want a new challenge, try and solve the puzzles in more than one way. The only addition I'd really like to see is GameCenter integration.

Pros

• Difficulty increases at a steady pace
• Graphics and sound effects are simplistic and refreshing
• Sharing solutions is not only a great idea, but incredibly easy
• Longer game play than most puzzle or strategy games

Cons

• No GameCenter integration
• A way to see solutions in app would be awesome

Cut the Rope for iPhone is a simple, yet challenging strategy type game.  Your little frog Om Nom wants candy.  The candy is hanging from random ropes with all kinds of obstacles in the way.  Your job is to find a way to cut the strings in the right order to get the candy into Om Nom's mouth.  You'll also need to collect stars on the way down.  The more stars you collect and the quicker you complete a level, the more points and achievements you'll earn.

[iTunes Link]

Cut the Rope will also tie into Game Center so you can track your achievements and share them with your friends. You also have the option to use Crystal if you choose to. The premise of the game is dead easy, but actually completing levels gets pretty challenging along the way. New enemies pop up, stars start to disappear if you aren't getting to them quick enough, and then there's the spiders, who steal your candy if you aren't quick enough! As of now there are 4 worlds to play through - cardboard box, fabric box, foil box, and gift box.

In order to unlock different boxes, you'll need to collect a certain amount of stars to gain access to that world. The developers also note after the 4th box that there are more levels coming. Some of the levels you can blaze through but collecting the stars makes it a bit more difficult. I've been trying to get all 3 stars within each level, which proves somewhat difficult after you get a good way into the 2nd box.

As you get further into the game, you'll start to encounter new enemies out to steal Om Nom's candy. You'll also have more obstacles and more gestures to learn. Some levels will require cutting ropes simultaneously or in rapid succession to avoid breaking your candy or letting it fall. Overall, the difficulty level is decent and the length of the game is good for the price you're paying. I haven't played through all the levels yet, but I'm already eager to see the developer add more.

If you're in the market for a good strategy type game that requires a little thinking, this may be a good option. It'll keep you busy for a reasonable amount of time for the price. If you've already picked this up, let us know what you think in the comments!

Pros

• Game Center Integration

• Difficulty increases at good rate

• Easy to learn controls and gestures

Cons

• More levels would be nice

Zentomino for iPhone is an easy to play puzzle game and a great time killer. While the game may have a simple concept, some of the puzzles are not as simple to solve. To complete a puzzle, you'll take Tetris-like pieces and fit them inside the puzzle designs without overlapping or going outside the boundaries. Drag pieces out of their places or back in, tap them while on the board to rotate them. Sometimes you'll use all the pieces allotted to you, sometimes you won't.

[iTunes Link]

When you first start the game, you'll be presented with pages and pages of puzzles to take a stab at. What I really like about this game is that you aren't forced to complete the puzzles in any specific order. You can flick through the pages and choose which ones you want to solve. Once you complete one, it will show the colored completed version as you scroll through. Get stuck on a certain puzzle? Click one button to take you back to the puzzle selection screen and take a stab at another one. You can always go back later and each puzzle should be as you left it.

Zentomino also links into Game Center. You'll get achievements based on completing a particularly complex puzzle, which will then show up in your achievements. You can see your achievements within Game Center, or clicking a link on the Zentomino main screen will link into Game Center to show you them.

So if you're looking for a good strategy or puzzle game, check out Zentomino and let us know what you think! They've also got a Lite version if you'd rather try before buying.

Pros

• Controls are easy to understand and fluid

• Lots of puzzle choices

• Game Center Integration

Cons

• Controls during game play to go back to main menu and reset pieces are a little small, making them bigger would make them easier to click on

Aurora Feint Forum Review by cjvitek (For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

[Ed- Aurora Feint 1: The Beginning, is FREE in the iTunes store. Aurora Feint 2: The Arena is now available for $7.99 and if you head on over to the forum, and ask Chris and Matt, we might just get a review up for that soon too! Meanwhile, here's Chris' review of the original to whet everyone's appetite!]

This is an extremely interesting game that tries to combine elements of a puzzle game with elements of an RPG game.

You start with a map screen. From there, you can go to the mine (the puzzle game), the store (to use your tiles for skills or tools), the smith (to actually obtain the tools), and the tower (to actually learn the skills). You need to start with the puzzle game, and once you start to gain levels and tile,s you can move to the other areas.

As a puzzle game, it is a pretty standard "match multiple tiles" type of game. You move peices horizontally to try to match at least three tiles together. One twist is that by holding your iPhone at different angles, "horizontally" changes, so in reality you can also move tiles vertically. Depending on the orientation, "gravity" is always down, so the tiles may fall differently as well. The graphics are pretty nice (there are five types of tiles) and the sound during the game is nice as well. There are a few powerups (more on this later) that add to the game play, destorying additional tiles or various other effects.

As you destroy tiles (or "resources", consisting of water, fire, earth, moon, and wind), you are actually "collecting" them, and this is used in the RPG side of the game. As you complete levels of the game, you gain experience, and can choose to "level up" in various areas. These additional levels allow you to either learn new skills, or gain new tools. This is all based on the number of tiles you have collected. To learn a skill or gain a tool requires various combinations of the five tiles - if you don't have enough of a specific type that you have collected, you can't learn the skill or gain the tool.

Learning skills or gaining tools requires you to complete a different puzzle. For skills, you are required to solve a specific puzzle (matching similar globes this time, making them all vanish) in a limited amount of moves. As the skill levels progress, these puzzles become harder. To learn new tools (by building blueprints), you have a time limited tile-removal puzzle, where you have to collect a specific number of tiles in various combinations (these are different from the tiles that are collected to try to gain the tool). If you fail at these puzzles, you have to try again at a later date.

All said, this is a complex game with an intriguing concept - combining a puzzle and RPG game. However, there are some problems that I have had. There are some features of the game that I can't figure out. There seem to be scrolls you can buy, but I haven't found out how to di that. In addition, it appears like you can have multiple members in you "party", but I can only really get one player going.

My biggest problem is with the RPG aspect of the game, however. The first problem is that many of the skills and tools are confusing. Once you get a tool, it can appear during the puzle side of the game (the power ups I mentioned previously). It also appears that you are supposed to be able ot "merge" tools, or use them when you are building blueprints, but I can't figure that aspect of the game out as well. This all dovetails into my biggest issue - the lack of clear instructions. There is no help screen or anything the clearly describes the gameplay, the features, or the RPG side of the game. With a game this complex, I think some sort of help screen is essential.

The last problem I had was with the RPG side of the game. Allowing a player to "level up" and learn different skills is great, but it doesn't appear that there is any real specialization going on. That is, if you don't learn a skill or a tool at one point, you can try to do so at the next "level up". Rather than allow people to really choose a path for their characters, it just appears that you can only choose the order in which you gain new skills and abilities - but eventually all character would be the same.

I applaud this game and the developers for trying a new approach to a puzzle game. And I think it has a lot of potential. Heck, even with the game as it currently stand I probably play it more than almost any other game. But it seems like they took a great concept, and stopped 10 yards short of the goal line. A little more development could have made this an incredible game, instead of a merely "very good" game. It is free, so I strongly recommend trying it. As I said, even with my concerns and issues, it is one of my top three games on my iPhone.

Pros

• Great graphics and sound,
• interesting game play,
• a great new concept for a standard puzzle game

Cons

• Lack of help screen or instructions,
• lack of a "real" RPG type of mode

Forum Rating

I love me some crossword puzzles. You can keep your silly Sudoku, I played enough logic games getting my philosophy major from a department that didn't go for them crazy postmodern language games (seriously, the folks at St. Thomas love them some logic). I love having crosswords on my smartphone because it's the perfect 'quick game' app: you can spend two minutes or twenty on them, there's many new and free ones available every day, and they fend off cognitive decline in old age (Seriously, speaking of Catholics, look into the "nun study").

Anyway, point is I want my crossword puzzle app to be awesome. So this week's App vs. App is crosswords. Today's contestants: 2 Across (1.2.2) by Eliza Block and Crosswords (1.13) by Stand Alone, Inc. Which one will better serve your word-puzzle fetish? Read on!

Getting Puzzles

Both 2 Across and Crosswords allow you to download around a dozen different free crossword puzzles, many updated daily. These puzzles are in the .puz format -- which I know because I spent many an hour hunting for .puz files back in my days as a PalmOS Treo user (full disclosure, the best PalmOS cross app is developed by Stand Alone). It's a standard crossword file format that can be made available for download by any crossword app and can either be free or by subscription (i.e. both can download the NYT puzzles if you've subscribed).

Both apps allow you do download these free puzzles as often as you like and also give you access to download a nearly unlimited number of puzzles by going backwards in time. 2 Across gives you a decidedly-standard-iPhone method of selecting a source, drilling in, and then choosing the date you want to download. Just press the "+" button at the bottom center and away you go.

It's a simple system that's very iPhone-esque in its UI and methodology (remember that, it'll be a trend).

Crosswords has the same functionality -- the ability to download any single puzzle from essentially the same sources and also the ability to download from previous dates. But Crosswords improves on the whole process in two ways. One: instead of using the standard iPhone 'dial' date picker, it presents you with a month view, allowing you to tap multiple dates very quickly. You find these by pressing the "+" button in the upper-left of the puzzles list. Two: the best thing about Crosswords is that there's a big old "Get Todays' Puzzles" at the top of your puzzle list every day. Quick, convenient, and automatic. Love it.

Managing Puzzles

Both 2 Across and Crosswords have a nice, clear list of your saved puzzles. Both show your progress -- 2 Across uses a pie-chart and Crosswords a status bar. You hit the edit button to delete puzzles. Here again, 2 Across utilizes familiar iPhone elements and is clean and simple.

Crosswords listing also uses some iPhone UI elements, but it's not as 'standard' as 2 Across. For one thing, there's that "get puzzles" button I mentioned. For another, there are a lot more buttons on the Crosswords listing. This can be a little jarring for some, but once you figure out what everything does (note that one of the buttons is 'help'), it's pretty great. You can sort by date or by last played. The last crossword puzzle you were playing is always indicated by a checkmark, and those status indicators are nice.

Doing Puzzles

Turns out you use a crossword app for more than downloading, tracking, and managing puzzles! Both apps have great crossword-playing abilities, though again you're going to run into some differences.

The same theme I've hit in the above sections applies to the crossword itself. 2 Across utilizes some very standard iPhone elements and has an immediate and intuitive feel to it. You can pinch-zoom, it has a standard iPhone keyboard, there's buttons for useful bits like looking at all the clues, looking at them in split-pane, switching to 'pencil' mode, and so on. You can show and hide the keyboard, enter multiple letters in a square, and you can even swipe in the 'clue area' to jump between clues

In all, you'll spend perhaps more time than you might like zooming in and out and so on, but here again I find this to be like standard iPhone apps. It might not be the most efficient way of doing things, but it's certainly intuitive.

Crosswords, on the other hand, is the polar opposite. I hated Crosswords in its 1.0 version because its default way of doing things were very un-iPhone-like and it also seemed to suffer from crashes. At 1.13, however, things are noticeably improved. Where 2 Across uses the standard iPhone UI bits, Crosswords uses them and also tosses in all sorts of other options.

The downside here is that you really need to take a half dozen visits to the settings when you first start using Crosswords, because the different options can be confusing and some of the defaults are annoying (I'm looking at you, compact keyboard option). That said, once you know what all the options and features and widgets are, you simply enable the ones you want and disable the ones you don't. After that, Crosswords can do, erm, crosswords in pretty much any way you like from the intuitive, iPhone-esque methods that are similar to 2 Across to a more traditional method that utilizes a floating directional pad for switching between clues.

There are also tons of nice and useful touches like the clue view showing you the letters you've already entered for a word. Unfortunately, I did run into more pauses and slowdowns in Crosswords than I did in 2 Across, so there are some bugs yet to be tracked down from that 1.0 release.

On the other hand, landscape mode! There's not as much functionality when you're in landscape mode, but it's a neat option and a nice alternate view.

Conclusion

2 Across is $5.99 and Crosswords is $9.99, but for a crossword junkie like myself (Jai Alai!) 3 bucks is much less important than playing my puzzles quickly and easily. In that regard, both apps do make the grade. In point of fact, after several weeks I still can't fully decide which one I like best and haven't banished either from my iPhone. I don't recommend this method, however.

The good news is that both apps have a 'lite' version which you can try for free to see which you like better before you lay your money down.

The thumbnail difference is this: 2 Across is intuitive, iPhone-like, and easy to use. Crosswords is a little too complex and option-heavy, but more powerful. I consider myself a 'power user' with smartphones (but not Crosswords, yet. I'll get you, Sunday New York Times!), so Crosswords is likely to get the 'stay' on my iPhone.

2 Across

Pros

• iPhone-like UI
• Snappy
• Simple to learn

Cons

• Have to manually download puzzle-by-puzzle and day-by-day
• No Landscape mode

Crosswords Rating

Pros

• Landscape Mode
• Lots of options

Cons

• Some occasional lag and missed-taps
• Lots of options

Enigmo is a 3D puzzle-based game for the iPhone developed by Pangea Software that has been met with rave reviews, even earning a “Best iPhone Game” at WWDC 08. The basic premise is to put water droplets in the water container, oil droplets in the oil container, and lava droplets in the lava container using the specific materials given to you. The materials can range from sponges, springs, slides, or even laser guns and it uses basic physics to determine where each droplet will land.

Enigmo is already a popular game on the Mac, but does it translate to the iPhone? Is it worth your $9.99? How does it perform?

Read on for the rest of the review!

Overview

The basic premise of the game is to put 40 droplets of whichever substance (water, oil, lava) into their respective containers. When I first saw it demo’d, I saw the immense potential in this puzzle-based game.

There are various tools you can use to accomplish the mission of filling the droplets in the containers. What’s great is that the water reacts to the item like it would in real life. Specifically, sponges would soak up the water and drip at a constant rate, slides would allow the water to slide down, and well, laser guns (if they were real, they’re more like super soakers) would shoot the water as if the droplets were bullets.

So you get the basic idea, water drips and you navigate those droplets into the container.

The Look

Honestly, Enigmo isn’t a graphically intensive game. There aren’t environmental concerns or realistic textures; obviously it won’t be confused with Gears of War. With that said and for the type of game it is, Enigmo still looks great. The 3D animation is similar to its desktop counterpart and there is never any hiccup in processing the graphics. When playing Enigmo, you can feel the iPhone’s slick graphical prowess, the animation just feels ridiculously smooth.

Luckily, the good doesn’t just end there. The physics in Enigmo is what drives it. Each water droplet reacts as expected and the items attempt to mimic reality—placing an item in one spot is entirely different than placing the same item in another. Because this game is physics based, it is crucial that Pangea nail it—good thing they passed the physics test with flying colors.

My only complaint with the look of the game is that it gets a bit dark in certain spots which is forgivable because the look is supposed to mimic the inside of a water pipe. Also, the introduction screen can be improved; it simply does not do the game justice. (Just look at how bland that looks!)

Gameplay

Because Enigmo is a puzzle-based game that uses physics as its main control, it comes with few instructions other than to put 40 water droplets into the container. The entire is game is essentially trial and error, you see what works and what doesn’t and then adapt to it.  It would have been nice if the developers included some hints to certain levels. For example, if you beat one level in a certain amount of time you would earn a 'hint' which you could then use when you are stuck. It could clue you in to where to put a particular piece or what have you. 

The basic controls for the items are dragging and dropping wherever you please. Pinching or pulling the screen will result in zooming in or out. You are also able to twist the item at a more precise angle when dragging the aiming circle outwards. Double-tapping an item will result it being sent back to your inventory bar. You can pause or end the game by double-tapping the screen.

The secondary goal to the game (the first being getting the droplets in the container) is to do it as fast as possible. Each level starts with a predetermined point value and it quickly counts down until it hits zero. When it hits zero, it essentially means you have gained no points. This scoring system is a bit odd because at the more difficult stages, it seems as if the counter is going much too fast and you can’t possibly see how it is feasible to earn points in your first attempt. I assume that the points are geared more toward replay value because completing a difficult level is already rewarding enough.

Enigmo allows 5 different saves and you are allowed to save after completing each level. Though it won’t save exactly from where you last left off, it will bring you back to the beginning of the level. Also, because the premise of the game is set, Pangea promises to introduce more level packs for the iPhone. Furthermore, if you’re ambitious, you can create your own level on your Mac and import them into the iPhone. Enigmo can essentially serve as a platform for creating specific level packs, the replay value of this game is immense.

However, this game isn’t PERFECT. I would like to see some improvements in the controls, sometimes I unintentionally move a key piece when I wanted to actually move the screen and other times I wish the precise zoom aiming would lock so my finger wouldn’t have to be locked to the screen the entire time.Other than a few control quirks and the lack of hints, I believe that Enigmo is a great puzzle game and perfectly ported for the iPhone.

Final Thoughts

But no matter how frustrating the levels of Enigmo can get, the possibilities of the platform is endless. With more level packs coming and the ability to design your own, Enigmo looks like its going to be a keeper for iPhone gaming. Go buy it now!

PROS

• Great Physics and Good Graphics
• Intuitive Gameplay
• Great Replay Value
• Good Music

CONS

• Sometimes a bit dark
• Controls can be quirky
• Maddeningly Frustrating When You Don't Know How To Pass a Level

Final Rating: 4.8/5