Super Polygon is a deceptively simple puzzle game for Windows Phone 8 that has you navigating through a psychedelic maze that is in constant motion.

The game has simple mechanics where timing is key and the pace of game play can get the best of you. Your score is based on how long you can survive the shifting, rotating puzzle and don’t be surprised if it is only for a few seconds. Super Polygon comes across as an entertaining and challenging puzzle game for your Windows Phone gaming library.

Layout

Super Polygon’s main menu has your standard options to jump into game play, access the game’s settings, view high scores, view the about screen and play the tutorial. Super Polygon’s settings cover rotation speed, sound levels, and themes (available via in-app purchase). The tutorial is a much slower paced version of the game that gives you fighting chance at success at the game. It's also an easy way to get a good feel for the movement controls and overall gaming concept.

Game play with Super Polygon has three gaming styles, Square, Pentagon and Hexagon that are progressively unlocked or unlocked via in-app purchase. Each mode involves a different shape of your core puzzle piece and the style of your puzzle pieces that you have to navigate around.

Game Play

Game play is relatively simple. You have a center puzzle piece that has an arrow just outside the piece. Tapping the right side of the screen, rotates the center/arrow clockwise, tapping the left will rotate it counter-clockwise.

The playing field rotates and changes colors as puzzle pieces (let’s call them walls) close in on the center of the game. Your job is to rotate the arrow through the maze of pattern, avoiding the walls. If your arrow hits a wall, game over.

Your score is based on how long you can survive and the longer you survive, the faster the game pace becomes.

Overall Impression

Graphics are minimal, game play challenge and overall Super Polygon comes across as an entertaining Windows Phone 8 game. Game play can be a little frustrating at times as the walls close in on the center of the puzzle but that just adds to the challenge.

The pace of the game will keep you on your toes and overall, Super Polygon is an entertaining game to pass the time with.

The base game is free and ad-supported. To remove the ads will get cost you $1.49 via in-app purchases and enabling themes or unlocking gaming levels cost ranges from $1.49 to $4.99. Super Polygon is available for Windows Phone 8 devices (including low-memory devices).

You can find Super Polygon here in the Windows Phone Store.

Sweets Mania Space Quest is a matching game for Windows Phone 8 that has an assortment of missions where you are tasked with pairing up various styles of candies. Game mechanics are similar to what you would find with Bejeweled but with a set number of levels with an assortment of mission goals.

Graphics are well done, game play challenging and overall Sweets Mania Space Quest is a fun game to pass the time with.

Game Layout

The main menu for Sweets Mania Space Quest has options to choose you language setting, mute the sound and volume and jump into game play. At the top of the main menu you will see your current game coin count and a countdown timer for when you’ll earn another life for game play.

If you would like to get a jump on building up your game coins the “+” button beneath your coin count will give you the opportunity to buy coins via in-app purchase. Coins are typically earned during game play and are used to buy power-ups and extra lives.

Sweets Mania Space Quest has six planets that have at least twenty levels each (my count could be off but it looks like the game has 300 total levels). Each level presents you with a goal to achieve that will fall into one of four missions that include:

• Score Cap - Score enough points (destroy enough elements) in a limited number of moves or time.
• Remove Jelly - Remove jelly underneath the candies in a limited number of moves or time.
• Collect - Collect certain elements in a limited number of moves or time.
• Bring Down - Bring an alien down to the bottom of the board in a limited number of moves or time.

The first few levels of the game serve more as a tutorial than a challenge. These tutorials will guide you through game play and does a rather nice job of things. Sweets Mania Space Quest does lack a help/reference section and other than replaying the first few levels, there isn’t a way to revisit game play directions.

Game Play

Game play with Sweets Mania Space Quest is simple. Your mission objective is announced prior to the start of each level.  Your coin and life counter will be displayed at the top of the gaming screen. Your moves remaining will be displayed above the playing field along with your progress towards the current mission.

The playing field is an assortment of candies that you’ll have to move around to create matches of three or more of the same style of candy. The playing field can be a single grouping of candies, divided into two sections, split into quadrants or simply odd shaped. Along with the candies some levels have blocks/bricks and other obstacles you’ll have to overcome. Bottom line, Sweets Mania Space Quest does a good job of giving you a variety of playing fields to conquer.

Just below the playing field are three boosters that can help you accomplish the mission at hand. Each will cost you an amount of coin and they include:

• Shuffle: If you are running out of moves, this booster will shuffle the game pieces around the playing field.
• Target Sniper: This booster will take out a piece of candy that you designate.
• Chocolate Candy: Allows you to place a chocolate candy that when swapped with another playing piece, all playing pieces of that style will be destroyed.

Creating a match calls on you to swap out pieces of candy, much like you do with Bejeweled, and when matched up the candies are removed. The playing field will then be replenished with candies from the top. Combinations of three simply remove the candies while larger combinations will create bonus items that when used, will take out larger sections of the playing field.

If you fail to complete your mission in the set number of moves, you can expend one of your lives to replay the game or burn some coin and buy additional moves.

Overall Impression

While there are plenty of matching games in the Windows Phone Store, Sweets Mania Space Quest is a rather surprising option to consider. I really didn’t know what to expect when I first installed the game but I have to admit that the more I played the game, the more appeal Sweets Mania Space Quest developed.

The variety of mission styles helps keep the game from going stale too quick and all four styles are full of challenges. Sweets Mania Space Quest’s graphics are attractive but I’m not sure having to wait to resume game play is a good thing or bad.

I would like to see a help section added to the mix but the tutorial levels do a good job of getting you accustomed to game play. Overall, if you’re looking for a fun, challenging game to help you pass the time with Sweets Mania Space Quest is worth considering.

Sweets Mania Space Quest is a free game that is available for Windows Phone 8 (including low-memory devices). You can pick up your copy of Sweets Mania Space Quest here in the Windows Phone Store.

We’re always, always glad to discover new Xbox games coming to Windows Phone. That’s the whole reason I started working here three years ago! Today an eagle-eyed reader by the name of John Lampard discovered a new Xbox Windows Phone game called Drop 7. I smiled, then frowned when I realized it’s just a puzzle game. After downloading the game my smile dropped even further…

Drop 7 is a puzzle game that launched on iOS and Android in 2012. Those versions came from developer Area Code, now known as Zynga New York. Wouldn’t it be rad if Zynga started making Xbox games for Windows Phone? You bet! But the Windows Phone game comes from a developer called Zanga. Something looks a little off…

Zang!

‘

That developer name is quite the curiosity. Most software developers and publishers have a web presence, no matter how small. But search for Zanga on the web and you won’t find a web page or any information relevant to the software industry (that doesn’t revolve around Zynga, that is).

Zanga does have another non-Xbox published Windows Phone game: Flappy Bird. “Wait a second,” you say. “There is no official Windows Phone port of Flappy Bird. Also, Flappy Bird is hella lame.” You’re right on both counts!

All of that means the makers of this “Xbox Live” game have published an unlicensed clone of somebody else’s game and passed it off as the real thing. A bunch of other developers have done the same thing, and Microsoft has turned a blind eye to them all. But would they really do the same with an Xbox Live developer?

Well, if we hope for more clues to Drop 7’s legitimacy within the game itself, we won’t find them. The game has no contact or copyright information at all. One of the Store screenshots reveals a title screen with Area Code’s name listed at the bottom of the screen. But Area Code’s name doesn’t appear on the actual title screen or anywhere else within the game.

It’s almost like somebody copy-pasted a shot from the real iOS or Android game and uploaded it to the Windows Phone Store. The tutorial screens shown on the Store page also fail to match up to those of the Windows Phone game. Brazen, stupid, or just incredibly lazy?

The false advertising doesn’t end there. The Store page also lists three key features, the last of which is online leaderboards. Yet you won’t find leaderboards in the Windows Phone version, just local scoreboards for each mode. Reputable companies do make Store description mistakes on occasion, but Drop 7 just doesn’t feel right.

Oh, and despite the Xbox Windows Phone banner on the game’s Store icon, it is NOT Xbox live-enabled. There have been one or two instances of mobile Windows Phone games bearing the Xbox banner but not providing Xbox Live connectivity at launch. The oddly-named Puzzle by Nikoli X Sudoku for Windows 8 comes to mind. That one took months to gain Xbox Live features. But again, given how shifty this port of Drop 7 looks, I don’t believe it will be getting those precious, precious Xbox Live Achievements.

I guess it plays like the real thing though

Okay, so this Drop 7 isn’t exactly legitimate and Microsoft’s Windows Phone Store team has passed not only a blatantly illegal clone but a fake Xbox Live game. But how’s the game?

Drop 7 is sort of a falling block puzzle game that deals with numbers, much like actual Xbox Windows Phone game KooZac. Each regular piece that falls bears a number from 1-7. To eliminate a piece (AKA disc), either the row or column it lands in must contain the same number of pieces as the one displayed on that piece. In other words, put five pieces in one row and any of those pieces bearing a five will disappear.

The pieces don’t fall until you tap the screen, so there’s no time pressure. You will lose if the stack exceeds the top of the screen, though. There are also gray discs that will turn into numbers only if you eliminate an adjacent piece.

The goal in Normal mode is to make enough moves (depicted as a row of tiny dots below the playing field) to move on to the next level. You’re mostly going for high scores, I guess. This Drop 7 offers two more game modes: hardcore and Sequence, but they play awfully similarly to Normal.

Drop 7 is a terribly boring game. The core mechanic just isn’t that compelling, nor does the game make up for that deficiency with flashy presentation. KooZac was already kind of boring and Drop 7 is more so thanks to the plain Jane graphics and too-simplistic matching mechanic.

I’m not the biggest fan of puzzle games nowadays, so you might have a better time with Drop 7 than I did. But we should all be asking why Microsoft allows developers to publish games that don’t belong to them on the Windows Phone and Windows 8 Stores.

It seems like a game’s Store description and screenshots should actually match the game too, just maybe? While we’re providing constructive criticism, I’ll go out on a limb and say that non-Xbox games shouldn’t be allowed to have the Xbox banner on them either. You guys tell me if I’m asking for too much here.

• Drop 7 – Windows Phone 8 – 2 MB – $.99 – Store Link

Thanks to "John Lampard" for the tip!

Another Case Solved is a new puzzle game for Windows Phone 8 that has you playing detective to solve the mystery of a curious candy conspiracy. The story line has your city clamping down on candy cravings by outlawing the source. You will need to figure out what is behind the candy craze by gathering clues, interviewing witnesses and solve a series of mind-bending clues.

Another Case Solved has seen a decent amount of success over on iOS and based on tinkering with the game for a short period, it should be well received on the Windows Phone and Windows 8 platforms as well.

Another Case Solved is a well-illustrated game with the following key features:

• Create your own personalized detective which includes custom outfits, props and more
• Multiple gaming styles that include matching clues, identifying suspects, and tracking  down hidden items
• Story driven cases to keep you hooked into the candy mystery
• Minor cases are available to help you keep your detective business in operation
• Ability to customize your office with new furniture that will increase your detective skills

As you solve mysteries, you will earn candy and cash that can be used to buy office furniture or props to further customize your detective.

We’ve only spent a short time with Another Case Solved and the game comes across as a nice mixture between puzzle solving, strategy and deductive reasoning. Another Case Solved is an entertaining and challenging game that is available for both Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8. We'll take the game out for a test drive over the next few days and get a full review of Another Case Solved on the site shortly.

Both versions are free and you can pick up your copy of Another Case Solved at the following links.

• Another Case Solved – Windows Phone 8 (not available for low-memory devices)
• Another Case Solved – Windows 8

Lots of readers rely on Windows Phone Central to learn about new Windows Phone games, but how does our staff discover games to share with the folks at home? My favorite method is by checking the “Newly discovered games thread” in our forums. Dedicated readers like “John Lampard” and Mohamed Ashid post a never-ending stream of Store links for new games.

One of the games our forum boys recently shared actually surprised me quite a bit. Jelly Smash is a match-3 puzzle game from AceViral.com, makers of Angry Gran Run. At first glance, I pegged Jelly Smash as another Candy Crush Saga clone to throw on the pile. But the more I played this one, the more I realized how well it stands on its own. It also happens to be exclusive to Windows Phone and Windows 8 and RT, which adds a few extra cool points in my book.

Gran’s journey

Speaking of Angry Gran, the character pops up on Jelly Smash’s title screen, diving into a pile of candy… or jellies… or whatever. It’s cool to see her here, but she doesn’t seem to show up anywhere else in the game. If you’re going to bother splashing a character all over the title screen, you might as well stick her in the menus and other areas too. Just look at Frozen Free Fall. Games like this really benefit from a little personality.

Anyway, the concept of Jelly Smash is simple. Players progress through more than fifty unique levels, completing each level’s goal and trying to earn high star ratings. Jelly Smash outdoes the average mobile game by offering more than just three stars to earn. Levels in this game go to FOUR, Spinal Tap-style. Naturally you can connect to Facebook in order to compete against friends and family. Friends can also send lives to each other.

Smashing the candy in style

To start out with, the goal in Jelly Smash is just to reach a target score in a specific amount of moves. Fail to complete the goal and you lose a life. Naturally, lives are finite but slowly recharge over time.

What’s cool about Jelly Smash is how it gradually increases in complexity with each new level. Each of the early levels teaches a new mechanic that makes this more than just an average match-3 game. For instance: match four and you’ll get a glowing jelly that explodes horizontally or vertically when matched, taking out a whole line of pieces.

Make a t-shape of jellies and you get a special jelly that explodes diagonally, which really mixes things up. Or create a square out of four like-colored jellies to build a bomb that explodes radially. Finally, 5-in-a-row forms a rainbow jelly that destroys all jellies of one color.

The variety of special pieces you can make would be impressive enough, but the chain reactions make things even better. It’s not unusual to create huge cascades of jellies exploding in all directions. The chaos of combos looks so impressive; the developers should add an instant replay feature.

More mechanics

Jelly Smash doesn’t just rely on score goals to create a challenge. Levels often feature unique obstacles like snow and gates. Spaces with snow much have a match cleared within them before the snow will disappear. Since the number of moves you have per level is limited, it can take a little planning (or luck) to clear all the snow away.

Other levels have spaces containing red and green gates. You have to make matches next to a gate in order to unlock it. Successfully unlock all of the gates in a level and you switch to a completely different area within the level. It makes for a nicely varied experience.

In-App Purchases

Besides the obvious ability to buy extra lives when you run out, Jelly Smash also offers premium powers as in-app purchases. To start with, you can buy six extra moves within a stage for 99 cents. Eventually you’ll unlock the power to rewind time and take a move back; the ability to remove any one jelly on the board; and the power to swap any two jellies around.

I’m not crazy about premium powers and what they do to game balance. But they are pretty common in games like this. Players who don’t want to spend anything can either muscle through tough levels by retrying until they win, or walk away when the going gets too rough.

Overall Impression

Jelly Smash is one of the better match-3 games in the mobile Windows lineup. The clever mechanics and spectacular chain reactions it brings to the table definitely give it an edge. I do wish for a little more personality, and the music could be better. Still, the game is plenty of fun as-is.

It would be best for Microsoft and King.com to reach an agreement and bring Candy Crush Saga over before Candy Crush passes from memory. But until that happens, at least puzzle fans have several strong alternatives like this to keep them busy.

• Jelly Smash – Windows Phone 8 – 20 MB – Free – Store Link
• Jelly Smash – Windows 8 and RT – 19 MB – Free – Store Link

Disney has kicked off a new game for their upcoming film starring Angelina Jolie called Maleficent Free Fall. The play is more or less standard match-3 fare, only following the theme of Sleeping Beauty's classic villainess. Players are presented with a grid of colored gems, and must swap adjacent tiles to match up those of the same color so they disappear. Every stage requires players to eliminate a certain number of gems in a limited number of moves. The standard freemium tropes are employed here, including in-app purchases for power-ups and a timer-based energy system.

The game is free-to-play, with all of the usual tropes like energy and timers, Disney has also made a similar title for their successful film Frozen, not to mention more popular puzzle titles like Where's My Water? It makes sense that Disney continues to pair up their major releases with mobile titles, and the match-3 genre is one a lot of folks are familiar with (even if it's a bit tired for many mobile gamers). Anybody interested in seeing the movie at least? Do you play match-3 titles regularly?

You can download download Maleficent Free Fall for Windows here, or on Windows Phone.

In Bombcats Special Edition for Windows Phone, you play as exploding cats that rescue kittens.  It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but this puzzle game is fun and cute. There are nearly 200 levels, so you may be spending a lot of time with it. 

Head past the break to watch our gameplay video on a Nokia Lumia Icon.

Bombcats Special Edition feels a little like Angry Birds, but it’s definitely a different game. There are seven Bombcats in total at your disposal, and each one has their own special skill. There’s the wall-clinging Clawdia, bounce-happy Boing, the ground-shaking Crush, and more.

Kittens are trapped inside bubble cages. The Bombcats have to explode right next to the kittens to break them out of the cages. In order to get next to the kittens, you’d have to move the Bombcats towards them before time runs out. You also need to collect suns and gems to unlock other levels, boosts, powers, and costumes.

To move the Bombcats, just press and hold anywhere near them. An arrow shows up with the direction of where they’re heading. Release to let go. You can zoom out and look around the level before you decide to take any actions. This is a good idea, so you can plan ahead. The status bar at the bottom right corner lets you know how long you have until the Bombcat explodes. Right above that is the number of times you can make the Bombcat jump. The Bombcat explodes when the timer runs out or if you run out of jumps.

While rescuing kittens is the main goal, there are other exciting modes:

• Time Trail - Race through 5 quick sub-levels as quick as possible.
• Marathon - You've got some extra jumps and a longer fuse to go as far as you can.
• Challenges - A new cat and layout in an old level with limited attempts.

You can equip boosts to help you pass the levels. For example, the ‘Arc Extend’ boost gives you longer arc drawings for longer jumps and ‘Blast Damge’ gives you more damage for explosions. There are several boosts to unlock, but you can initially equip one boost at a time. Unlocking boosts require gems, so it’s important that you try to collect as much as you can while you’re playing.

The Bombcats are also upgradeable with gems. For example, 3,000 gems can make Clawdia jump longer, have a longer fuse, and stronger explosion.

The game is pretty easy to master, but there are also powers you can use to make it even easier. For example, you can activate the Slow-mo power to make everything go slower. This is handy to give you more time to make decisions in mid-air, but we haven’t used them much.

Bombcats Special Edition is a free download from the Windows Phone Store. You’d think that this game will have in-app purchases for upgrades, but they’re nowhere to be found. In this initial version, upgrades are unlocked with gems you’ve collected while playing. We highly recommend Bombcats SE. Check it out and let us know what you think!

Thanks for the tip, Mohamed A.!

If you like puzzle games, you should check out Lines on Windows Phone. Developed by That Wonderful Lemon Co., this addictive game requires you to match colors and make lines before you run out of space. We just installed it on our Nokia Lumia Icon, so head past the break to watch the gameplay video.

The first level of Lines is the tutorial. A row of color-filled circles drops down. Swipe left or right with one finger to move the row before another row drops down. You can only move the top row. To earn points, simply match colors to make lines. When at least 5 matching colors are next to each other, a line is formed. Lines can go up and sideways. The longer the line, the higher your score.

The rows go all the way around, so you only see parts of them. Swipe left or right with two fingers to spin everything in view. After the rows fill up to the top, you get your score. Depending on how well you perform, you get up to three stars.

There are Helper bonuses you can use when playing Lines. For example, you can click the ‘shuffle’ helper if you don’t like your current line. Another helper doubles your score.

There are in-app purchases available, however, there’s no need to buy anything to enjoy this free game. You can buy extra lives, stars, and helpers. Want to buy 1,000,000 stars? It’s available for $37.99. A 5-pack bonus multiplier costs $1.99 and a 5-pack shuffle helper costs 99 cents. If you don’t want to spend real money, but want to get free bonuses, you can try the spinner game. It’s like a slot machine.

Lines is a free download from the Windows Phone Store. It’s also available on Facebook and iOS devices. Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments!

Every game can't be a comic book-inspired dash through the streets and rooftops of New York City. Sometimes you just want to relax with a nice puzzle game to relax with on your phone. Or maybe a really hard puzzle game – I'm not here to judge you guys.

That's what Slovenian indie developer Dawn of Play has given us with their first Windows Phone game, Dream of Pixels. You can describe Dream of Pixels as a "reverse Tetris" game, given that it involves pulling apart a pile of blocks into Tetris-shaped pieces. But the game play really is quite fresh and challenging. Plus it's one of the loveliest puzzle games you'll come across, with a sharp 3D engine and gorgeous use of colors. Check out our impressions and hands-on video after the break!

Upside down and topsy-turvy

As I just mentioned, the basic concept of Dream of Pixels is that players must take apart a large mass of blocks found at the top of the screen. It's like the morning after Tetris; somebody has to clean up the mess!

Thing is, you can't just tap away at the block pile and hope for the best. There are rules to this demolition project. First of all, you're looking for a specific Tetromino (piece) to pull out of the stack. You can usually remove that shape from several points within the block mass, and even press and hold to rotate the shape you're going to remove.

If you just pull blocks off willy-nilly (as I did in our video, whoops) the stack will be left with lots of random floating blocks. Players can't interact with disconnected blocks, and they will cause the game to end if you let them touch the bottom of the screen. Luckily, clearing the lines between the stack and the floaters will cause those floaters to return to the stack. Then you can clear them right, gosh darn it.

But wait, there's more! From time to time a white shape will appear within the stack. You could just ignore it and just pull it apart bit-by-bit as you work through the target shapes. But take the time to separate the surrounding blocks from the white piece without destroying it and you'll get four times the points, so some careful clearing is usually the way to go.

Also, pieces usually must have a clear path below them in order to be removed from the stack. This varies by game mode, though.

Plenty of game modes

Dream of Pixels starts out with a tutorial that I found slightly tough to follow. Chalk it up either to the distraction of shooting a video, or to the tutorial needing a little more explanatory text than what's there.

The main game offers six modes of play. Only three are available by default – the rest will unlock when certain conditions have been met.

• Classic: Try to survive and score as many points as you can. The level increases as you clear enough lines, making the block stack move faster.
• Puzzle: Take on 120 hand-crafted puzzles without the pressure of time! Instead of a big mass of blocks, the blocks actually make some fun and interesting shapes such as the Windows logo, a Pong scene, and a music note. Even the puzzle names are clever. The Puzzle mode is my favorite part of the game.
• FreeFall: Works like classic, except pieces don't need a clear path to the bottom in order to be removed from the stack. They just fall into the background.
• Pro: Unlocks after reaching Level 9 in Classic.
• Nightmare: Merge isolated blocks with the main cloud of blocks 100 times to unlock.
• Shattered Dream: Detach 42 white pieces to unlock this mode.

Besides offering a lot of things to do, Dream of Pixels is super pretty and features some catchy trance music to entertain the ears. The only thing the game really lacks is online leaderboards. Comparing scores with random players or friends would add a nice competitive element and additional replay value.

Like I said, Dream of Pixels is not an easy game. Even though it's based on a familiar puzzle game concept, the implementation is so different that your Tetris skills won't necessarily pay the bills. But if you like a puzzle challenge, you'll want to pick this one up. And there is a trial!

• Dream of Pixels – Windows Phone 8 – 66 MB – $2.99 – Store Link

Unroll Me - unblock the slots is a puzzle game for Windows Phone 8 that has you solving a puzzle, which in turn creates a path for a white ball to travel safely to the finish point in the gaming levels. The game can be rather challenging in that you need to stay one step ahead of the rolling ball as you solve the puzzle or you'll see the white ball crash and burn, ending your hopes of completing the puzzle level.

The game has had a decent amount of success of on iOS and Android platforms and in playing Unroll me for the past few days, it should do well on the Windows Phone platform.

Game Layout

Unroll Me - unblock the slots' layout is uncomplicated with a main menu offering up five gaming modes, an option to mute the sounds, remove the ads and restore your purchases (should you switch devices). Removing the ads will cost you $1.99 through an in-app purchase.

All totaled, Unroll Me has 120 puzzle levels that are spread out through the five gaming modes that include:

• Beginner
• Medium
• Hard
• Extreme
• Multi-ball 4x4

The gaming screen has your current level and best moves score displayed across the top of the screen, your gaming board in the center with menu, freeze and speed up buttons running across the bottom of the screen.

Game Play

The object of the game is to shuffle the puzzle pieces around to create a path for the white ball to travel on, ultimately reaching the finish point (the red square). While the object sounds simple, you only have a few seconds to start solving the puzzle before the white ball begins to roll. To save you a few seconds to get the path built, you can tap the freeze button to stop the ball in its track for a few seconds.

Puzzle pieces can be moved while the ball is traveling across the piece and should you ever need to give the ball a little boost in speed, just tap and hold the speed up button.

Your score is based on the number of moves it takes you to create a path to the finish point. If your ball hits a dead end or falls off a puzzle tile, you fail the level.

Overall Impression

Unroll Me isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea but as far as puzzle games go, it's a good one. You have the element of solving the puzzle to create a path for the ball to travel on and the urgency to complete your task as the ball rolls forward. Graphics are good, game play challenging and overall Unroll Me - unblock the slots comes across as a fun, entertaining Windows Phone game.

There really isn't anything detrimental about the game. Unroll Me ran smoothly, puzzle pieces shifted without issue and the only thing I could see being added that would help the game is possibly an online leaderboard for bragging rights. Regardless, Unroll Me - unblock the slots is a well rounded puzzle game and a fine addition to the Windows Phone gaming library. It is a nice option to consider when you need a little help passing the time.

• Unroll Me - unblock the slots - Windows Phone 8 - Free - Store Link

You've probably heard of the puzzle matching game 'Threes!' from your friends with Android or iOS devices. There's no official version for Windows Phone, but we've stumbled upon something similar called Hues. Don't worry; it's not a rip-off copy. Head past the break to watch the official game trailer.

Features:

• 3 game modes: Timed Mode, Moves Mode, and Endless mode.
• Power-ups - Increase time, increase moves, level up your Hues!
• Adaptive GUI! Watch the GUI change as you unlock more Hues!
• View hilarious character descriptions and details in 'The Clan'
• Leaderboards System
• Tweet scores
• Coin Shop

Swipe the display to slide the cards, also known as Hues, across the board. Match colors to combine Hues and upgrade to the next color. A new Hue is also created after every swipe.

There are three modes available. Timed Mode gives you 30 seconds to play to get the highest score possible. Moves Mode gives you 75 moves to get the highest score possible. There's a third mode called Endless, but it requires an in-app purchase of 99 cents to unlock. There's no time or moves limit in this mode.

The use of colors instead of numbers is an interesting idea, but it makes it difficult to plan moves ahead of time. With Threes!, you know that combining 3 + 3 gets you 6. In this game, combining Yellow + Yellow gets you Orange. Hues provide a cheat sheet if you want to memorize the order.

As you play Hues, you earn points you can use to purchase power-ups. This includes boosters to increase the amount of moves or time. There's also a power-up to level up selected cards. If you're impatient, you can purchase points using real money. For example, 50,000 points cost 99 cents.

Hues is a free download at the Windows Phone Store, however, you'd probably want to unlock Endless mode for 99 cents. We'd love to see the official Threes! game on Windows Phone, but Hues is an interesting alternative to check out in the meantime. Give it a try and let us know what you think in the comments!

Thanks for the tip, Ewert H.!

Disney's Hidden Worlds hit the Windows Phone Store late last month and challenges you to find objects hidden in plain sight. A game of I Spy of sorts that takes you to three different worlds based on three Disney stories.

The story behind the game has you protecting the worlds of Beauty and the Beast, Tangled and Aladdin from a mysterious villain who is threatened these worlds' existence. You team up with Chrona and the Inklings to keep these worlds safe and restore their story lines.

While the game is fun with Hidden Worlds, I couldn't help but feel navigation could have been a little less busy.Nonetheless, Disney's Hidden Worlds has plenty of picture puzzles to solve and, overall, is a fun title to add to your Windows Phone gaming library.

Hidden Worlds Layout

Hidden Worlds has a user-friendly layout that sends you directly into game play from the get go. When you launch the game, you immediately meet Chrona who is seems to be the caretaker of the three worlds involved in the game. Along with a band of misfits, the Inklings, Chrona protects these worlds from danger and keeps things running smoothly.

A dark ink (that looks like fog) falls over these three worlds and a mysterious villain is threatening to disrupt these three stories. Chrona greets you from the start of the game and walks you through game play rather intensely over the first few missions. Chrona and the Inklings will maintain a presence throughout the game, leaving very little guesswork with missions. Which is a good thing in that there is not a help section that you can tap into for reference or how-to directions.

You still have to do the heavy lifting in finding the hidden objects in the various picture puzzles.

Speaking of which, each picture puzzle represents a key movie moment from the Beauty and the Beast, Tangled or Aladdin. Each picture will have over fifty hidden objects that you'll need to identify through various missions. There will be puzzle where you are given a word description of the item you have to find or a thumbnail section of the picture you have to identify.

The game has a few menu displays that are more or less world maps. There is the Worlds View that displays all three worlds you must protect, the individual view of each world and Inkspire. Across the top of each menu view, you will find your experience points/level, your energy level and your gem counts. Energy is used to take on missions and both gems and energy can be purchased through in-app purchase opportunities that range from $.99 to $99. Fortunately, your energy will be replenished over time and as long as you pace yourself, you should be able to avoid the IAPs.

Gaming world views are laid out in similar fashion with missions or quests line the left side of the screen. In the bottom right corner of the screen, you will find options to visit your Friends hub, visit the craft center and find a mission to play. The Friends Hub is where you can chat with Facebook Friends and gift items or energy.

You also have an Inkspire Button that sits about mid-way up the right side of the screen that sends you to Chrona's world that serves as a gaming summary area. Tap on each section of Chrona's world to pull up gaming stats, missions that need to be completed and more.

Hidden Worlds Game Play

Game play with Hidden Worlds isn't very complicated but has many facets. You have to tackle a series of missions or quests to restore order to the world you are visiting. Along the way you will collect items that can be used to craft items that will also help you restore the story line of the world.

The primary game is where you are presented with a picture and have to identify hidden objects from within. You do have hints available and the quicker you solve the puzzles, the higher your score.

Find the object and tap on the screen to pull it out of play. The game does register taps that are not correct so you'll need to be careful at randomly guessing. If you get stumped, there are hints available to highlight the area of the picture you need to concentrate on.

As you solve the puzzles, you will earn items (ink, paper, etc.) that will be used to craft special items to lead characters back on script or to upgrade buildings to restore them to their old selves before damaged by the ink fog.

You may find yourself tackling the same puzzle twice to build up your inventory to craft the needed items or upgrade a building so you can advance to the next mission. As you advance through the game or re-play the same picture puzzle, the difficulty of finding items increases. Luckily, you can zoom into the picture to help you find the items.

Again, you final score is based on the accuracy of finding the items, the speed in which it is done and any consecutive items you discovered. The more points, the more stars you earn and the more items you can earn as well.

Overall Impression

Disney's Hidden Worlds is a fun, challenging game but game play seemed to be all over the place at times. While there is game structure, if Chrona didn't pop-in to make sure you were headed in the right direction I could see players getting frustrated and lose interest quick.

Hidden Worlds isn't a terribly hard game to figure out, there is just a lot to digest.

As far as game performance goes, the puzzles are well drawn up and challenging. The only nit I have is that at times the touch screen can be a little difficult. There were times I would have to double or triple tap an item before the screen recognized things. You do hear a little jingle when you tap the right item but I would like to see some form of feedback on a wrong choice as well to avoid constantly tapping an item.

I've gotten used to Disney's IAP's and have learned to pace my game play. While the energy supply is limited, it will replenish in time and to avoid the IAPs all you need to do is pace yourself. This will also help the game from growing stale too quickly or you finishing all the missions too soon.

While I wouldn't mind seeing a better organized menu structure as long as Chrona is around I cannot complain too loud. Overall, Hidden Worlds isn't a bad gaming title from Disney. I don't think it will top Maleficent or the Where's My Water series from Disney, but it is worth checking out.

• Disney Hidden Worlds - Windows Phone 8 - Free - Store Link
• Disney Hidden Worlds - Windows 8 - Free - Store Link

We love discovering fun games from indie developers. Here's one you might like. It's called Dark Way Down, a puzzle game from Daniel Fairley. It has been released recently for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. Want to see how it looks? Head past the break to watch the gameplay on the Nokia Lumia Icon.

Dark Way Down is very simple. The goal is to light up all the tiles without running out of moves. To move, just swipe on the screen. If you land on a tile that's already lit, it will turn off. As you progress into further levels, more tiles are introduced. Some levels also have barriers, which don't allow you to go certain directions. If you're on the left edge of the board and swipe left, you end up on the right side.

Instead of numbers, each level has a name. Some examples are Lost, Shunned, Lucid, Drowning, and Conformity. Dark Way Down contains 25 puzzles in total.

If you find yourself taking the wrong step in the middle of solving a level, click on the retry button on the top left corner. The options button on the top right corner lets you switch on or off the music and special effects.

The graphics in Dark Way Down is really simple. It's two-dimensional and uses monochromatic colors. It works well with the story of finding light in a world of darkness.

In a blog post, Daniel says he started developing the game after being challenged by a friend. He says he's not particularly good at puzzle games, so designing Dark Way Down was difficult. He's satisfied with how the game has turned out, but says he will steer away from the category for the time being.

Dark Way Down is a free download from the Windows Phone Store. There's no catch, either. There are no ads or in-app purchases. It also supports devices with low memory. Go download it now if you have some time to waste and share with us what you think!

Sometimes, simple is best. We love games that we can simply pick up, play for a few minutes, and then move on to whatever we need to do. WhatWay is one of those games, but you might get addicted to it. This game is about visual and spatial processing and how fast you can react. Want to see how it looks? Head past the break to watch some gameplay with the Nokia Lumia Icon.

The best way to tackle this game is to start with the tutorial. You need to swipe the direction of the appearing arrow or swipe the direction of the odd one. For example, if there are 5 arrows pointing up and 1 arrow pointing down, you have to swipe down. The idea is really easy, but you have probably heard of an old saying, "easier said than done." Don't worry about touching the arrows. You can swipe from anywhere on the screen

There's a countdown timer for a minute and 30 seconds, but it's immediately game over if you swipe the wrong way. The faster you are, the more points you earn. You don't earn points for being too slow.

At the end of a round, you see your score, average reaction time, number of arrows cleared, and the maximum streak. Our current best score is 695 points. Can you do better?

Even though we enjoy playing this game, we think the visuals need improvement. The buttons do not look very pleasing and there's something about the typography that just seems off.

WhatWay is a free download from the Windows Phone Store. It is ad-supported, so you'll see advertising in the game. If you want to remove the ads, you can get the pro version for $1.29. Have some free time? Check out Whatway and let us know you think in the comments!

Another popular game from iOS, Android, and Blackberry has just made its way to the Windows Phone Store. Sheep Up! has been a big success with over a million downloads on other platforms, and now Windows Phone users get to play it, too. In collaboration with Nokia, Microsoft, and AppCampus (appcampus.fi), the developers have included exclusive content with a new edition of the game to launch on Windows Phone. It's called Sheep Up! Black Light. Head past the break to watch some gameplay on the Nokia Lumia Icon.

Features:

• 3 Eye catching cardboard worlds with 30 challenging levels
• 1 New Cyber World with 10 new theme-based levels
• 22 Stunning and super funny Sheep Suits
• 5 New futuristic sheep suits
• Sheep suits share (NFC)
• 8 different power ups
• Localized in 10 languages: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Russian.

Sheep Up! Black Light is a tilt-based puzzle platform game with a top-down camera view. The main character, a tiny toy sheep, has been stored inside a cardboard box together with other old toys. It needs your help to escape. Tilt your device as the sheep keeps bouncing. Each level consists of multiple floors that are navigated one at the time. The goal is to reach the exit platform and jump up to the next floor. Figure out how to find the exit and avoid falling off or jumping on pins.

As you go higher, platforms get smaller, and obstacles get trickier. To help you out, there are some power ups like clocks that freeze time and umbrellas that prevent you from falling.

Each world has its own theme. For example, the first world has a seasons theme, the second world has a food theme, and the third world has an aquarium theme. Each world has 10 levels. If you fall off a platform, land on pins, or get hit by enemy toys, the game gives you an option to continue. It costs points, so use them sparingly. If you don't click continue, you start the level again from the beginning.

If you've already played Sheep Up! on other platforms, what's new for Windows Phone is Cyber World and the futuristic sheep suits. Imagine a bouncing sheep inside a Tron world. Complete the three original worlds before unlocking Cyber World or you can unlock it with 5,000 game coins. Don't have enough? There are in-app purchases available for extra coins. For example, 5,000 coins cost $2.49.

By default, you control the sheep by tilting your phone. If you go to settings, you can change the sensitivity. If the tilting motion is not working out for you, you can change to using touch instead. Pressing anywhere on the screen moves the sheep towards that direction.

Sheep Up! Black Light is a free download from the Windows Phone Store. We think it's worth checking out. Go download it now and let us know what you think. We're sure it will at least put a smile on your face.

Thanks for the tip,ShauryaP.!

Earlier this week we mourned the loss of multiple Xbox games that were recently delisted from the Windows 8 Store. It seems that Microsoft is no longer interested in publishing mobile Xbox titles that it does not fully own. But new Xbox games for Windows 8 do still pop up occasionally, such as Microsoft Sudoku back at the end of June. And hey, they're releasing Zoo Tycoon Friends for Windows Phone and Windows 8 later this year.

Another Xbox game for Windows 8 and RT has just become available in all regions after enjoying the traditional soft launch in Trinidad and Tobago: Microsoft Jigsaw. As you might expect, Microsoft Jigsaw is another casual free-to-play title that fits right in with Microsoft Sudoku, Microsoft Bingo, Microsoft Microsoft, and other first-party Windows 8 games. Jigsaw puzzle fans and your grandmother are sure to love it.

Three ways to put it together

Microsoft Jigsaw offers three game modes:

• Classic Jigsaw: Select a puzzle and then choose to play one of four difficulties. The faster you assemble the puzzle, the higher your star rating for it will be.
• Jigsaw Jam: A faster paced original mode in which players have to quickly find one specific piece in order to maintain a score multiplier.
• Daily Challenge: Like other Microsoft-brand Windows 8 games, this one offers up different challenges to play every day. This one has three kinds of challenges: Bug Catcher, Lock Breaker and Jigsaw Jammer. The first two challenges involve surrounding a moving bug with pieces and completing a puzzle within a set number of moves. Jigsaw Jammer works just like the separate Jigsaw Jam mode.

A year's worth of challenges

The Daily Challenge mode sounds cool in theory, but Achievement hunters might scoff at the surprising time investment the mode requires. Completing enough challenges during a month to achieve certain score milestones will get you a bronze, silver, and gold medal for that month. Playing every day for a month, that's kind of a lot but not unreasonable as far as Achievements go.

That said, Microsoft Jigsaw has three Achievements (worth 35 GamerScore in total) for earning 8-12 monthly medals. Remember, players can only get one medal of each kind per month. You'll have to play pretty much daily for an entire year in order to get these Achievements. Maybe that will be fun for somebody, but I imagine most will find the grind excruciatingly boring.

For more Achievement info in general, refer to this Achievement Guide. It suffers from some grammatical errors but should still be useful for completionists.

Not bad for a puzzle game

It's easy to dismiss Microsoft Jigsaw as just another casual free-to-play game in the Xbox Windows 8 lineup. But the developers actually squeezed a fair amount of features that someone who likes jigsaw puzzles would want into this game.

The puzzle selection screen shows every puzzle as a box, just as you'd see when selecting a puzzle from the shelf in real life. Players can zoom in and out, automatically sort pieces, and manually sort pieces into trays. You can even create custom puzzles using the image files from your PC or tablet, a super simple but cool feature nonetheless.

Microsoft Jigsaw offers initially two puzzle packs to choose from. Players can spend gold bricks (premium currency) to unlock more. You can opt to purchase gold bricks or simply earn them manually by playing the game. Pretty much everything you do other than playing custom puzzles gets you gold, so it's a fair system overall. Cloud saves too.

If you like putting puzzles together, consider this game a worthwhile download. Shame it didn't launch on Windows Phone too though, don't you think?

• Microsoft Jigsaw – Windows 8 and RT – 192 MB – Free – Store Link

Thanks to Rockin' Robby Herbert for the tip!

It's better late than never. Another puzzle game from iOS and Android has just made its way to Windows Phone. Huebrix by Yellow Monkey Studios is a color puzzle game about filling spaces on a grid with paths of blocks. It has over 1.6 million downloads on other platforms, and now it's ready for Windows Phone users.

Head past the break to watch our gameplay video with the Nokia Lumia Icon.

Huebrix has over 400 levels, separated by skill level for your convenience. Solve the levels by dragging paths from blocks to fill out the puzzle grid. The blocks only give you paths of a specified length, so it's going to require your brain to do some hard work.

As you progress, special blocks appear to determine the orientation of paths, acting as clues and challenges at the same time. For example, an arrow block forces you to go in one direction. A colored block, only accepts specific colors. A block with an X ends the current path.

Huebrix appears easy at first, but it gets challenging. There's a timer on the top right corner that stops when a level is solved. It does not reset back to zero if you retry a level. We think that's a great idea because it encourages players to solve the puzzles as fast as possible.

While we enjoy occasionally playing Huebrix, we found a couple of annoyances. Pressing the Windows Phone back button exits the game. It does not properly go to the previous screen. Another problem is the screen orientation. Huebrix allows you to play the game in landscape view, but you'd want to avoid it. Huebrix will shift to one side of screen, causing two-thirds of the display to be empty black space.

Huebrix costs $1.99 from the Windows Phone Store. Unfortunately, there's no free trial in this initial version. We like this game, but the annoyances we mentioned need to be fixed. Does this game look interesting to you? Let us know in the comments!

We're always glad to see developers bringing over their games from other platforms to Windows Phone. Here's yet another one. Cut and Hack is an abstract hacking simulator. Combined with a storyline of being a hacker, the main objective is to rush and slice all the geometry shapes with perfectly drawn lines. It looks great. Head past the break to see some gameplay with our Nokia Lumia Icon.

Features:

• Test your accuracy, speed and reflexes in unique stylish game
• Hack your way through various color schemes, shapes and randomly generated cuts
• Achieve 50 levels and follow a decision-driven story

You are a hacker. Geometry shapes represent systems that can be hacked by you. Cutting along the lines inside the shapes as precise as possible, "hacks" the system. The more accurate you are, the more points you get. After every cut, the game lets you know whether the cut was poor, average, or elite.

Each round is 60 seconds. There's a timer at the bottom of the screen. You can earn more points with multipliers. If you act fast, the multipliers keep increasing. You can see your multiplier amount at the top left corner.

Scores are based on megabytes. At the end of the round, you see how much data you've hacked. After reaching a certain amount, you level up, sell data to a corporation, and face the consequences. Selling data gives you game credits. You can use them to equip augmentations to boost your hacking skills. This includes improving your precision, getting more time for hacking, and multiplying your score right from start. Credits sometimes show up in the middle of the rounds. Tap on the yellow icons if they appear.

Cut and Hack is a free download from the Windows Phone Store. There are ads, but any in-app purchase removes them. The most affordable option is 1,500 game credits for 99 cents. It's definitely worth checking out. Give it a try and let us know what you think in the comments!

If you like puzzle games, then you are going to like Defuser for Windows Phone. The goal is to prevent bombs from going off. There are five different button types to defuse and 40 levels that will test your skills of multitasking and puzzle solving. We've installed the game on our Nokia Lumia 930. Watch our gameplay video to see if it's your type of game.

The first few levels let you get comfortable with the game mechanics. For example, the first button that needs to be defused simply needs you to press and hold it for two seconds. Each level after that adds more difficulty. There will be more buttons and they will need to be defused differently. The next button challenge is a switch. It requires you to swipe to the other direction. There's also a speedometer that you'll need to keep tapping so it doesn't drop down below red. Another button requires you to spin it around in the arrow direction for a certain amount of time.

Part of the challenge is timing. A button can only be defused when its light starts blinking. As you progress to more difficult levels, you will need to defuse more than one button. For example, you might need to press and hold the first button for 3 seconds, while you keep tapping the speedometer.

If you try to touch a button before it lights up, the bomb explodes. If you hold a button too long, it explodes. It's easy to get addicted to Defuser, because the retry button is just one click away.

After defusing the bomb, the game shows your accuracy in percentage. That's converted into earning lightbulbs. More accuracy means more lightbulbs. You can get up to three per level.

Defuser is a free download from the Windows Phone Store. It displays ads during gameplay, but they don't get in way. It's definitely worth checking out if you're into puzzle games. Go download it now and let us know what you think!

In Bombcats Special Edition for Windows Phone, you play as exploding cats that rescue kittens.  It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but this puzzle game is fun and cute. There are nearly 200 levels, so you may be spending a lot of time with it. 

Head past the break to watch our gameplay video on a Nokia Lumia Icon.

Bombcats Special Edition feels a little like Angry Birds, but it’s definitely a different game. There are seven Bombcats in total at your disposal, and each one has their own special skill. There’s the wall-clinging Clawdia, bounce-happy Boing, the ground-shaking Crush, and more.

Kittens are trapped inside bubble cages. The Bombcats have to explode right next to the kittens to break them out of the cages. In order to get next to the kittens, you’d have to move the Bombcats towards them before time runs out. You also need to collect suns and gems to unlock other levels, boosts, powers, and costumes.

To move the Bombcats, just press and hold anywhere near them. An arrow shows up with the direction of where they’re heading. Release to let go. You can zoom out and look around the level before you decide to take any actions. This is a good idea, so you can plan ahead. The status bar at the bottom right corner lets you know how long you have until the Bombcat explodes. Right above that is the number of times you can make the Bombcat jump. The Bombcat explodes when the timer runs out or if you run out of jumps.

While rescuing kittens is the main goal, there are other exciting modes:

• Time Trail - Race through 5 quick sub-levels as quick as possible.
• Marathon - You've got some extra jumps and a longer fuse to go as far as you can.
• Challenges - A new cat and layout in an old level with limited attempts.

You can equip boosts to help you pass the levels. For example, the ‘Arc Extend’ boost gives you longer arc drawings for longer jumps and ‘Blast Damge’ gives you more damage for explosions. There are several boosts to unlock, but you can initially equip one boost at a time. Unlocking boosts require gems, so it’s important that you try to collect as much as you can while you’re playing.

The Bombcats are also upgradeable with gems. For example, 3,000 gems can make Clawdia jump longer, have a longer fuse, and stronger explosion.

The game is pretty easy to master, but there are also powers you can use to make it even easier. For example, you can activate the Slow-mo power to make everything go slower. This is handy to give you more time to make decisions in mid-air, but we haven’t used them much.

Bombcats Special Edition is a free download from the Windows Phone Store. You’d think that this game will have in-app purchases for upgrades, but they’re nowhere to be found. In this initial version, upgrades are unlocked with gems you’ve collected while playing. We highly recommend Bombcats SE. Check it out and let us know what you think!

Thanks for the tip, Mohamed A.!