Yet again I find myself in the position of having an incredible number of interesting mobile games to review - and not enough space to cover them all.
Not only that, games I've reviewed before keep getting updated with new features and content, and often deserve a reappraisal. But, again, there's no damn room. The onward march of new releases and the need to cover five platforms fairly mean that a lot has to be missed out.
Inevitably, the comments will be full of exasperated cries to review all manner of worthy candidates - and all I can say is that I'm on it. If not this week, then sometime in the future.
One such example is They Need To Be Fed, a game I've had near the top of my list to write about since February. But in the face of younger, probably better looking options, I've decided this time to grant it a well deserved minute in the sun.
Say What You See: The Collection HD review
The whole 'cryptic canvas' concept is one of those ideas that works brilliantly on touchscreen devices - or at least ought to.
When the first version came out last summer it was evidently something of a work-in-progress; the interface was a bit fiddly, you didn't get any clues and there was only one canvas. Humbug.
In its wisdom the Big Ideas team has beefed up the content immeasurably, and decided to offer up a free demo canvas (of your choice!) as a means to lure you in to buy the five others currently on offer. As well as the obvious gamer-centric Arcade Classics canvas, there are also US TV dramas, Scary Movies, Books 2 Film, Eighties Movies and Rom Coms.
Identifying clues is now a more intuitive process. While before you might mistakenly think an adjoining picture was part of the same hint, the game now highlights the clue in question so that there's no ambiguity.
And on top of that, if you're really stumped you can now call upon the three-tier clue system - at the expense of your points tally.
Now all you need to do is slowly lose your marbles, staring at little pictures until cordite smoke starts to emit from your ears.
8/10
Imaginary Range review
Brace yourselves, for today we have a "new genre of entertainment" to tell you about. Or, more precisely, a comic that thinks it's a game. Or is it a game that thinks it's a comic? Either way, Square Enix is trying to gently tweak our temptation glands by offering it for nought pence.
Developed by H.A.N.D., the studio that brought us Final Fantasy: Chocobo Tales on the DS, this 53-page comic essentially intersperses the narrative frames with occasional mini-game interludes which move the story along.
In principle it's not a bad idea, but it relies on a) the quality of the story and b) the quality of the mini-games. Sadly it's by no means a foregone conclusion that you'll be interested in either. I certainly wasn't.
Now, I'm certainly no authority when it comes to comics and graphic novels, but it was hard to care about Toshiyuki Itahana's story even a tiny bit. There's an attack on Paris. Cue onomatopoeia. Blah.
You might care a little more if the mini-games were any good, but they're are as throwaway as can be. If insultingly basic block rotating puzzles and lame Flight Control and Missile Command-style interludes sound like a fun way to kill some time, then go ahead. It is free, after all.
But if Square Enix is considering monetising its experiment in the future, the least it can do is make the games worth playing. As it is, Imaginary Range feels like a waste of everyone's time.
4/10
Gears review
- iPhone/iPad (Universal App) - £0.59
When a game rockets to the top of the App Store from nowhere, it's easy to assume it must be another insidious irritant designed for people with low attention spans and a peculiar fondness for birds. Well, incorrect, Mr Jump-to-Conclusions.
Nor is Crescent Moon's latest another copycat cog puzzler. Instead, the team has managed to trot out one of the finest ball-rolling games your disbelieving eyes have ever seen, all for the obscenely low price of 59 pence. I know.
Set across 27 lovingly rendered 3D levels, the premise is as simple as it needs to be: just roll that damn ball into the yawning funnel within the time limit. Getting there is another matter entirely as you try to gently tilt (or swipe, if you prefer) the ball across rotating cogs and gears, and negotiate precariously narrow ledges.
Unlike the iOS Super bloody Monkey Ball games, you always feel fully in control and, more importantly, the camera always gives you the ideal view. If you fail, it always feels like it's your own stupid fault.
Like the equally awesome Dark Nebula, Gears pitches the challenge perfectly, and gives you that one-more-go feeling without also instilling the need to lie down in a darkened room afterwards. When developers make games this good, it's only right and proper to reward them with cold, hard cash.
8/10
They Need To Be Fed review
With loveable games like Karoshi, Sync Simple and Maddening already under its belt, YoYo Games has quickly established itself as an impressively unrubbish purveyor of gaming snacks. And the studio's happy knack for punting out charming little retro platformers continues with this moving tale about a monster and his desire to digest big-headed baby boys.
Your duty is to navigate the various hazards that lay between you and the monster's gaping maw, gathering up any stars you come across on the way.
But this being a 360-degree platform game, the usual rules of gravity don't apply and you can't actually fall off anything. Just to keep you on your toes, certain platforms are affected by your weight, or spin through the air in a crude attempt to impale you on spiky objects.
Of course, you're better than that. You have no problem soaring through the air as majestically as an Eagle, piloting a blimp, running rabidly around 50 abstract obstacle courses so that 'they' can be fed... It's all in a day's work for the diligent, platforming-obsessed mobile gamer.
7/10
Enigmo review
- Windows Phone 7 - £2.49
- Previously released on iPhone (£1.79), iPad (£0.59), PC, PSP Minis (£2.49) and Mac App Store (£2.99).
Two months on from the last Windows Phone 7 exclusive, the excitement void continues to be filled with hits from yesteryear of varying quality. Fortunately this latest is worth a look, assuming you haven't already been subjected to its well-documented charms since its first appearance eight years ago.
Following on from the success of the 2008 iOS version, it's no great surprise that Enigmo is similarly engaging on WP7 handsets - and just as fiddly if you don't quite possess the dainty dexterity to get the most out of this evergreen liquid puzzler.
You start each of the 50 levels with a limited set of tools, and essentially have to fashion a means of coaxing 40 droplets (of water, oil or lava, or sometimes all three) into their respective receptacle. Place, rotate, divert. Joy ensues.
Some tools help maneouvre the droplets to other parts of the environment, while others help accelerate the flow, possibly aiding the bounce process and wooing the ladies. Other times merely getting to a particular goal is only part of the problem, and you'll sometimes be forced to direct the droplets through hoops before you're deemed a worthy human being.
All this trial and error frivolity makes Enigmo the perfect game with which to while away those moments of commuter boredom, but beware - it's an exacting little monkey that appears to delight in making you feel foolish. Strike back. Show it the error of its ways.
7/10
