Showing posts with label ipod. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ipod. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

'The Mirror Maze' Review – Ow, My Brain Hurts

'The Mirror Maze' Review – Ow, My Brain Hurts

posted by Eli Hodapp on May 25th, 2010 4:34 AM EDT in $0.99, Games, Puzzle, Reviews, iPhone games, iPod touch games

Re-posted by Yonatan Frimer

Last weekend, Assyria Games' unleashed The Mirror Maze [$1.99] on the App Store. Like any good puzzle game, the entire premise of The Mirror Maze can be explained in a single sentence: Control a red and a green ball, and get each of them in to their matching color zones on the other side of the screen.

This goal is accomplished by touching where you want the red ball to go. The green ball then goes in the opposite direction. The first few levels are very easy, and it doesn't take you long to understand the remarkably simple concept of the game. This is the exact moment that The Mirror Maze starts throwing increasingly difficult mazes at you which require a surprising amount of brain power to complete once the levels advance to the point of not being symmetrical at all.

Not only do the mazes become completely asymmetrical, but they eventually start being composed of both moving barriers and the warp gates seen above which act like little portals warping your ball between them. All of these obstacles must be successfully avoided using a single input for both balls, and it's really surprising how much thought goes in to figuring out the movements of both balls using a single touch input.

The Mirror Maze has online leaderboards powered by Agon, and while there are currently only 36 levels included in this version of the game, the following gameplay trailer makes mention of more levels coming soon:

There have been a ton of maze games released on the iPhone, but few offer much variation on just getting a single ball to the end of a maze. It would be nice if there were more levels, and there is an odd pause as mazes reload upon each retry (of which there will likely be many), but The Mirror Maze is worth trying just to see how difficult it can be to not only avoid obstacles with the ball with regular controls but also constantly thinking in reverse while you manage the other ball.

App Store Link: The Mirror Maze, $1.99

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

First Look and Giveaway: Equilibrio for iPhone / iPod touch

First Look and Giveaway: Equilibrio for iPhone / iPod touch


There's one big problem with being a TUAW blogger -- we are constantly tempted away from doing real work when developers tell us about new and fun software to try out.

That's exactly the problem I ran into when Fishing Cactus asked us to review Equilibrio (click opens iTunes), their new ball puzzle game for iPhone and iPod touch. The app, which is also available for Nintendo Wii, is an addictive game in which you roll balls made of various materials (rock, paper, steel, rubber, and more) around a maze using the iPhone's accelerometers to control where the balls go. You can gain extra points by hitting "coins" and zipping to the end of the maze quickly. There is a conquest mode, where players need to complete a series of levels, as well as a challenge mode. The app is currently available in the App Store for half-price at US$1.99, and there's also a free version -- Equilibrio Lite -- available if you want to try before you buy.

Fishing Cactus has supplied us with 5 promo codes to give away to lucky iPhone / iPod touch owners in the US and Canada. To enter the giveaway, leave us a comment with your idea for a totally different material to make an Equilibrio ball out of.

Here are the rules and a link to the obligatory legal statement:
  • Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older. (Sorry, we know our international readers want to participate, but promo codes don't transfer outside the US.)
  • To enter leave a comment with an idea for what material you think a Equilibrio ball should be made of.
  • The comment must be left before Thursday, June 12, 05:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time.
  • You may enter only once.
  • Five winners will be selected in a random drawing.
  • Prize: One license each for Equilibrio (US$1.99 value)
  • Click Here for complete Official Rules.
Good luck! And check out the gallery below for some screenshots of this addictive iPhone game.