Circles for iPhone and iPad review: A beautiful memory game

Circles for iPhone and iPad is a gorgeous memory game, similar to Simon, that tests your ability to repeat a sequence of lighted circles. You can play alone or challenge your friends to a battle to see who out-memorizes who.

The premise is simple: you are presented with up to six circles, each a different color and with a different sound. For your first turn, a sequence of two lights will light up and it's your job to repeat that sequence. For each turn, an additional light is added to the sequence. You simply continue playing until you make a mistake.

That's the basic idea, and fun even as is, but Circles takes it a step further with multiplayer gameplay and weapons! There are three different weapons you can use against your opponents: Lightning, which speeds up the playback, Twirl, which will rotate the circles after playback, and Blackout, which removes sound and color from the circles.

As you play the game, whether it's alone or against an opponent (except Practice mode), you earn coins that can be used to purchase weapons and chances. You can also buy coins with real money as in-app purchases.

The good

• Beautiful design
• Soothing sounds
• Adds a new twist to the classic Simon memory game with Lightning, Twirl, and Blackout
• Gives encouraging words when you pass a level
• Multiplayer through Game Center
• Earn coins to buy weapons and chances
• iCloud support

The bad

• No complaints

The bottom line

Circles is a fantastic little game. It's challenging and good for your brain. I love that you can play against your friends and attack them with weapons to make it more challenging to win. I have a terrible memory and tend to be fairly horrible at these types of games, yet I still enjoy Circles… I'll just keep it to myself what my max number of taps is… what's yours?!

• $1.99 - Download now