Mobile Games Roundup
Karoshi! Wings! Dig! Jet! Puckerz!
Puckerz!
- iPhone - £0.59.
Pinball-air hockey-breakout probably wasn't what Groundbreaking Games had in mind when conceiving Puckerz, but that's the net result.
Set against the clock, it's up to your waggling fingers to catapult a puck at just the right angle and trajectory to smash everything in your path.
But such is the way of these things that the further you get, the more evil and time-gobbling obstacles are thrown in your path. Fling with careless abandon and your careering puck flies straight into the abyss, or is blown to smithereens by a mine - boom! But line that puck up with dead-eyed precision and those glittering jewels will all be yours.
The only snag comes from not being able to see the whole playing area at once. On an iPad the game could work superbly well, but the default zoomed-in view forces a large amount of guesswork - unless you fancy panning around the course in advance.
But for a trifling 59 pence, I'd be a misery guts if I moaned too much. It sure plays a mean pinball-air hockey-breakout.
7/10
I Dig It
- Windows Phone 7 - £2.49 (free trial available).
- Previously released on iPhone as 'I Dig It Expeditions' - £1.79.
Dark forces must surely be at work for such an unassuming-looking game to consume quite so many hours.
You're sent off on the hunt for buried treasure, guiding a converted bulldozer into the choking subterranean depths. The next thing you know, hours have past; your glazed expression lit only by the glow of your smartphone. Worried friends periodically check on your whereabouts.
Like other all-consuming mining games before it (Miner Disturbance, for one), I Dig It grabs you with a formula that's hard to shake. You start off in search for mere trinkets, scoop up a few odds and ends, and find the thing the professor is looking for. But you might have known that it wouldn't end there...
With money to spend on upgrades, you're able to dig further into the depths and seek out even more valuable treasure until eventually you're plucking out the QE2, or thereabouts. Each time you'll stress over your fuel reserves, hull damage and bin storage, wondering how InMotion managed to drain your spare time so effortlessly.
The only problem is I Dig It's inability to disable the god-damned search button on the (HD7) handset - something that you'll almost certainly accidentally press. Assuming they can remedy that with a patch, then I Dig It will absolutely definitely take over your life.
8/10