Mobile Games Roundup
Say! Imaginary! Gears! Fed! Enigmo!
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