Mirror Maze: iPhone Game Review (Assyria Studio)

Mirror Maze is a deceptively simple looking game that requires nerves of steel and a steady hand.

The objective of the game is to guide the red ball from the green "start" box to the red "end" box without touching any of the walls. The immediate challenge is that the green ball mirrors your movements and you also lose if the green ball touches a wall. While the first few levels are fairly easy, there are 36 levels in total which progressively increase in difficulty. The difficulties start with asymmetrical mazes and move from there into moving walls and warp gates.

As puzzle games go, Mirror Maze offers more variation than most which keeps it interesting. For those who are into competitive playing, the game also contains a (now expected) leader board.

Mirror Maze is available for $1.99 in the AppStore and there is a free lite version which contains twelve levels.

Links:
Assyria Studio

Beware of the Bad Seed - iPhone Game Review (realtech VR)

With Beware of the Bad Seed, realtech VR brings a 3-D twist to the classic whack-a-mole game. There are three different modes within the game - a timed mode where you need to score as many points as possible within sixty seconds, an arcade mode where you play until you lose five of your daisies and a straight-forward tic-tac-toe mode.



The game board is a 3 x 3 grid of flowerpots which you can rotate around by using the arrows at the bottom of the screen. The objective of the arcade and timed mode is to hit the carnivorous plants in the head as they pop out of flowerpots before they eat one of the daisies; all the while making sure that you don't hit one of the smiling, dancing daisies as you are tapping. There are different point values assigned to the different types of carnivorous plants and the higher value plants require multiple taps before they will drop back into the pot.



This is a fun game and it goes fairly quickly so you can easily play a round or two in a spare couple of minutes. Beware of the Bad Seed is available for $.99 cents in the AppSotre.



Links:
realtech VR

iPharaoh - iPod / iPhone Game Review (Justnine Co. Ltd)

iPharaoh is one of the better puzzle games that I’ve seen for the iPhone. Rather than having the player take on the Lara Croft/Indiana Jones adventurer role, you get to play the mummy and kill the adventurers who are trying to steal the Pharaoh’s treasure.



The game consists of six stages, each with ten different maps. To keep the game interesting, sliding and rotating walls are added in the upper levels along with two new types of treasure hunters - the ninja and the giant. You are given some new tools to fight back with in the form of sliding cube stones (which you can use to slow down or kill the hunters) and booby traps. One of the challenges is that you have to guide your mummy (by flicking your finger in the direction that you want it to go) before it reaches a cross-roads; otherwise the mummy will chose a random direction in which to proceed. The cube stones are easier to control (you can change direction anytime with a flick of your finger) but they inflict less damage on the enemies.

The levels are timed and so you need to defend the Pharaoh’s treasure and kill all the intruders in less than two minutes. With the game requiring such a minimal time commitment, I found myself getting quickly caught up and replaying levels multiple times to try different strategies.

iPharaoh EP 0 – Freedom of the Pharaoh is available as a free download from the iTunes AppStore and iPharaoh EP 2- Desperate Pharaoh is available for $2.99.

Links:
Justnine Co. Ltd.

PandaMania - iPhone Game Review (FizzPow Games)

PandaMania is an extremely addiction tower defense game from FizzPow Games that has a great graphics, easy-to-use controls and solid story line. In PandaMania, someone has stolen your source of power, your Fu Manchu mustache, and you must go on an epic journey to retrieve it. Wielding your bow and arrows, you fight through five lands and fifty levels, all in the name of your mustache.



PandaMania has three difficulty levels and gives you three save-game slots. Each enemy that you hit with your bow both charges your Pandamania meter (on the bottom right of the screen) and gives you points which you can use at the end of a level to upgrade both your arrows, power-ups and your tower. Charging the Pandamania meter lets you launch a mass blitz-attack on your enemies and is great to use in a crunch.

Make sure that you have some time for this game as it is easy to get started with and more than enough here to keep you engaged. Each Land has nine - ten levels, introduces new, more challenging enemies and ends with a boss level. This is one of the few games that I didn't put down until I finished the first difficulty level.

PandaMania is $1.99 in the iTunes AppStore.

Links:
FizzPow Games