Mobile is great for little puzzle games that you can pick and put down at any time. TanZen, a collection of tangram puzzles, is a great example. Tangram puzzles consist of seven geometric shapes cut from one large square (as you can see in the app icon to the left) that are rearranged into other various shapes. It's a Chinese thing lol. In TanZen there is a solid dark outline that you try to completely fill with the seven shapes. It's a simple concept but can be difficult to figure out. Some nice, relaxing new agey/Oriental music should help you keep your cool. I've done quite a few of these now and there have been a few so far I haven't figured out. That's no problem, though, because there are plenty more puzzles to move onto. Over 550 in total! I have a feeling this game will be on my phone for a long time.
Even if you can never remember what it’s called, you’ve messed with tangram before. Probably in elementary school when it improved your understanding of geometry so extensively that your mind zipped out of your body to an ethereal realm of triangles and squares where you were truly at peace. Or, you used it once, decided it was boring, and stared at the carpet instead. Well, now tangram is back! And attacking!? That’s right, the set of shapes that can be formed to sort-of look like anything you can imagine is the center of the fast-paced, mind-challenging Tangram Attack! that found a way to make those simple shapes into a pretty good game – for a while.
Recently I got Game & Wario for Wii U. It’s in the WarioWare series of titles, but they probably didn’t use the name because the games are a bit different this time around. More like longer mini-games instead of the two second microgames of the past. They spoof Game & Watch with the title, and the start screen for each game feature cheesy ‘box art’ for every mini-game. So as I always like to do with these kinds of things, here’s a rundown of the mini-games you can play in Game & Wario.
Seemingly "getting the memo" from fans, Nintendo has continued to provide WiiWare demos in this week's Nintendo Download. Players can sample both Lit from Wayforward Technologies and Urbanix from Nordcurrent.
2009 was a solid year across all consoles. I was surprised how many niche titles made a big impact on me, while a number of high profile titles simply underwhelmed me.
When looking at Storm City Entertainment's recent catalog of DS titles, it’s apparent that they are primarily puzzle titles. Foto Frenzy is their latest entry into this genre and similar to their previous efforts such as Hands On! Tangrams and Jewel Master Egypt, Foto Frenzy is based on a somewhat traditional puzzle. Unfortunately, Foto Frenzy isn't a very good game, nor is it very fun.
Given the holiday, this week was somewhat slow both in general gaming news and on PixlBit. Regardless, the crew has managed to release the standard number of reviews, the podcast, the latest Developer Special podcast, as well as a steady stream of news.
Storm City Entertainment's latest title falls into a familiar category - DS Puzzle Game. Unlike their last title, Jewel Master Egypt, this game is based on Tangrams, a Chinese puzzle game thousands of years old. As a matter of fact, the title is not just based on Tangrams, it is Tangrams.