Push Panic
By Bejoy

 

At first glance Push Panic seems like a standard physics/puzzle game- its not- it’s a mental thumb bashing free for all and I love it!!

The premise of the game is that coloured blocks fall from the top of the screen and you have to link them into chains. However before the blocks are linked they have a tendency to pile up along the bottom. Across the playscreen there is a bar that you cannot let the blocks pile up above. As such it is essential that you link the blocks into chains so that they disappear as fast as you can - failure to do so results in losing the level.

There’s certain amount of risk that must be endured in order to be truly successful at this game. Levels require a high score in order to be completed. The longer the chain links the higher the score. So when you are challenged with getting a crazy high score (which as the levels go on gets even crazier) you have to create some pretty long ass chains. However as the levels go on the blocks start dropping pretty damn fast from the top and begin to pile up just as fast along the bottom. As such you have to weigh up the risk of a big pile of blocks vs. a long chain. At times it can get really intense!

Ive reached a point now where I don’t think I can progress any further as I simply can’t move my fingers and thumbs quick enough to keep up. Because of this I can’t give it 5 out of 5 full marks but I will highly recommend it as a fun and entertaining game for all- especially those who have not got the early stages of arthritis brought on from a lifetime of cracking their knuckles like me.

4.5/5

TwoDots
by Betaworks

 

I was playing TwoDots in bed the other night and my wife turned to me and asked ‘darling are you just staring at a bunch of dots?’ at which I was forced to concede that ‘yes, I am indeed staring at a bunch of dots’. However, I explained to her, I’m not staring at any old dots I’m playing TwoDots -a very cool puzzler that looks deceptively simple but actually takes a lot of brainpower to complete.

Like its predecessor (Dots) the object of the game is to connect the dots according colour – however connections can only be made horizontally, vertically or in a square. Unlike its predecessor though, one now has to complete various challenges in order to complete a level such as getting anchors to drop to the bottom of the screen in a certain amount of moves. It can be challenging at times but also a lot of fun.

Another slightly less welcome addition to the Dots series is our old friend Mr ‘Lose five lives and wait 25mins for new one’. That said so many freemium games use this format now that I’ve kinda gotten used to it and cant be arsed to complain about it anymore.  Twodots is still an awesomely addictive game despite its use.

As for the appearance of the game my wife is right of course right- the game does have a somewhat modernist minimalist appearance. However I think it looks cool. If a artist like a Damien Hirst created a painting that consisted of just a bunch of colourful dots on a blank canvas I bet it would be worth millions of dollars… what Damien Hirst has created a painting like that and it is worth millions of dollars? Case in point.

4/5