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 initially offers 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!

Know anyone that sleepwalks? It sounds dangerous. In Back to Bed, you guide a sleepwalker named Bob to the safety of his bed. You don't want him to fall off a ledge. To achieve this, you control a subconscious guardian named Subob. He looks like a dog with a human head. Since Bob automatically turns right after hitting a wall and other objects, it's up to you to place things in front of Bob at the right place and time.

We've installed Back to Bed on the Lumia 1520 and Surface Pro 3. Check out our gameplay video.

Features:

• Unique surreal and artistic game universe: Mixes elements from the real world and the world of dreams
• Isometric puzzle levels: Navigate detailed 3D puzzles that defy the laws of physics
• Two characters as one: Play as the embodied sub consciousness, in the form of a small guardian creature
• Picturesque visual style: Discover the feeling of playing in a piece of art set in a digital frame

There are two ways to control Subob on Windows Phone. You can tap and hold the screen to make him move in that direction, or you can use the directional arrows. You can change it whenever you want, but we prefer the former.

You can use apples to block Bob's way and guide him back to bed. Tap an apple to pick up, and tap again to drop. The best way to solve the puzzles is to follow where Bob goes. If you see that the path leads to falling off, place an apple in front of him. Back to Bed is not that challenging, but it's worth playing if you have some time to spare.

Back to Bed is available for both Windows and Windows Phone devices. You can buy it once for $3.99 and download it for both devices. There are no trials, ads, or in-app purchases. Is this your type of game? Let us know in the comments!

• Download Back to Bed for Windows ($3.99)
• Download Back to Bed for Windows Phone (3.99)

If you enjoyed puzzle games like 2048 or Threes, you might like this new game called, 0h h1. It's a little logic game that requires you to follow three simple rules. It is free without ads, in-app purchases, social network requirements, or other nag screens. We've installed it on our Lumia 930 and Surface Pro 3. Take a look at the gameplay video.

0h h1 is really simple. Follow these three rules:

1. You can't have three tiles of the same color next to each other.
2. A full row or column must have as many blue tiles as red ones.
3. No two rows or two columns can be the same.

Simply tap a tile to change its color to blue or red. From there, just complete the grid while following the three rules above. There are 4 different sizes for the grid:

• 4 x 4
• 6 x 6
• 8 x 8
• 10 x 10

We don't have a hard time solving a 4 x 4 grid, but completing a 6 x 6 is a bit more challenging. When you fill up the grid, 0h h1 either congratulates you or lets you know if you've broken any of the rules. Need a reminder? You can tap the question mark below the grid at any time.

The undo button, exit, and tips are also placed below the grid. Tips are really helpful when you're stuck and don't know what to do.

Grids start out with random tiles. Knowing the rules greatly help you out with the planning. For example, if there's a row of 4 tiles with already 2 red tiles, then you already know the remaining blank tiles need to be blue.

If you've got time to kill, definitely check out 0h h1. It's free and you can download it on your Windows and Windows Phone devices. You can also play the game on iOS, Android, and even your web browser (ohh1.com)

• Download 0h h1 for Windows Phone (Free)
• Download 0h h1 for Windows (Free)

If you're not tired of puzzle games yet, here's another one to check out. Knox's Room is a challenging physics puzzle game, which the general goal involves causing a specific object to move, float or fall in a particular direction. It has been out for a while now, but it's worth mentioning because it is a free game that supports both Windows and Windows Phone. Want to see it in action? Watch our gameplay video on the Surface Pro 3 and the Lumia 930.

The first few levels are easy and help you understand what this game is about. Before you start a level, the goal is displayed on the screen. Some examples are:

• Put basketball in the box.
• Put billiard ball in the box.
• Pop the balloon.

In order to accomplish those goals, you have a toolbox with things like bookshelves, books, and pipes at your displosal. You can place these items anywhere on the level to help you set up a chain reaction that eventually meets the goal.

The first thing you should do is tap the play button the top right corner without using anything from the toolbox. Analyze what happens without your help. Items might drop and balls might roll without your help. Use these initial actions to help you place the other items on the level.

In addition to meeting the goal, there are also three stars placed around each level. Try to collect all three.

Knox's Room is a free download from the Windows and Windows Phone Store with in-app purchases. The one you might want is to remove the ad. The good news here is that if you pay to remove the ads while playing on Windows Phone, it also carries on to your Windows tablet.

Is this your type of game? Try it out and let us know what you think!

• Download Knox's Room for Windows (Free/In-app purchase)
• Download Knox's Room for Windows Phone (Free/In-app purchase)

With a game title like 94 degrees (94-degrees.com), you'd think we're talking about another weather app. Instead, we are playing a hot new game for Windows Phone that has been popular on iOS and Android devices.

94 degrees is an addicting game that's very easy to learn. You are tasked to find a certain item or area within an image. The closer you get, the hotter you get. Want to see it in action? Watch our gameplay video with the Lumia 1520.

Each level provides an image with a caption on top with the target. A couple examples are maps that require you to find certain countries or ropes asking you to find the half point. Tap the area where you think the answer is and a crosshair appears. Tap the green button at the lower right corner to confirm. If you get it right, you go to the next level. If you get it wrong, check the thermometer at the bottom to see how hot or cold you are. If you see the thermometer gets colder than your previous guess, go towards the opposite direction.

Players have a limited amount of pins to use. Watch the green pin number on top to see how much you have left. Next to the pin number are the amounts of coins. You earn coins when you guess right. You can use these coins for perks, which are also known as dice.

One perk turns the image into a multiple-choice test. Guess from one of the pins placed on the image. Another perk shows the direction of the correct answer in addition to how warm or cold you are.

94 degrees is a free download from the Windows Phone Store with in-app purchases. The premium in-app option seems to be available for free right now. It adds exact temperature, gives you extra pins on correct answer at first try, removes ads, and more.

We're having a lot of fun with 94 degrees and we think you will like it. Go download it now and leave some feedback in the comments!

• Download 94 degrees for Windows Phone (Free/In-app purchase)

The Bridge is a puzzle combined with beautifully hand-drawn art in the style of a black-and-white lithograph. Before we continue, let's get one thing out of the way. It costs $5.99 at the Windows Phone Store without a free trial. We've probably turned off many people by now, but on a positive note, you can buy the game once, and download it both for Windows and Windows Phone. The Bridge has also won the Unity Game developer contest, standing out from over 600 other entries. Watch our gameplay video to see it in action.

The main objective is to get to the exit door and you'll have to figure out how to do that. There will be things that get in the way such as balls that can crush you, or a vortex that warps your body. You also need to analyze the architecture of each level to understand what you need to do and where to go. A lot of thinking is required.

The controls aren't hard to understand. Tap and hold in front of the character to make him move and tilt your phone left or right to rotate the levels. If you get crushed, float off, or get stuck, you can backtrack to try again. You can do this by swiping from right to left then hold. You tilt your device to rotate levels and define what's the ceiling or the floor. There's currently no way to pinch or zoom in a level, but you don't really need to.

There are four chapters with six levels each. You can revisit these levels if you want to challenge yourself to finish them in shorter time or to find other ways to solve them.

We enjoy playing The Bridge. It's challenging, but not too hard that it will make you give up right away. It has beautiful artwork too. The price is high, but it's great that you can buy it once and download on both Windows and Windows Phone devices. Your progress does not sync, though. We've installed it on our Surface Pro 3 and play using the keyboard.

Is this your type of puzzle game? Let us know in the comments!

• Download The Bridge for Windows Phone ($5.99)
• Download The Bridge for Windows ($6.99)

The mental exercise of counting sheep has existed in the public consciousness for hundreds of years, whether or not anybody actually does it. Me, I like to fall asleep listening to a good animated comedy like Bob's Burgers, and those seldom feature any sheep. Point is, something as well-known as counting wool-coated animals makes for a great jumping off point for a game.

Indie publisher TinyBuild must have thought so, as their game Divide by Sheep involves lots of math puzzles involving innocent sheep. Players will have to move as many sheep onto rescue rafts as they can before Death takes them all in various gruesome ways. A morbid sense of humor and lots of clever puzzles make Divide by Sheep a Steam game worth playing. Find out more in our detailed review with video!

Death kindly stops for sheep

Divide by Sheep begins with a cinematic sequence depicting Death's lonely existence in the underworld. The Grim Reaper has no one to play Battleship with, so he looks to the world above for potential friends. Up there, there is so much room… And lots of sheep, pigs, and wolves for Death to befriend. The only problem is he has to kill them first!

We're too nice to let that happen, so our goal is to save as many of those critters as each level demands. In each of Death by Sheep's 120 levels, players have three life rafts to load up with animals before Death comes a-calling. The catch is that each raft can depart with the exact number of animals displayed on the left side of the screen. Load one up with five sheep when it called for four and the whole thing will sink instead of swim.

Moving the sheep and other animals around is a snap – simply click with a mouse or tap if using touch and drag to the adjacent platform where you'd like them to move. The whole group moves at once, so no picking them out individually. If you move more animals onto an island than it has free spaces, the extras will fall and drown. The goal is to save the number the level asks for, not all of them!

The sheep rescue goes dark

Some levels pair sheep and wolves up together, which creates its own challenge. If a sheep lands on a hungry wolf, the carnivore swallows the sheep whole. That wolf then becomes immobilized and can't be saved. But it won't harm any other sheep, either. These levels are designed so that you'll have to feed sheep to some of the wolves in order to get the right number of each onto their corresponding rafts.

Other hazards get even darker than simple sheep swallowing. My favorite is the laser wall. Move a group of sheep through a laser, and the animals get sliced in half. You can then move these halves around like full sheep, leaving a bloody mess wherever they land. Two halves count as one whole sheep on the raft – they get taped together and sent along with their living counterparts!

The combination of cute artwork with dark humor works in Divide by Sheep's Favor, keeping it from being just another puzzle game. This puzzle game's got guts! Not too much, just enough to be funny. But parents who don't want their kids playing with blood and guts can use the Parental Control option in the game settings to disable it. The sheep will still get sliced by lasers and the like, but it won't spill any blood.

Choose your sheep wisely

The Steam version of Divide by Sheep sells for five bucks and works on Windows and Mac. Annoyingly, the game lacks Steam Cloud support. A game like this would work great for jumping back and forth between computer and Windows tablet. It does have Steam Achievements, at least.

Speaking of playing on Windows tablets, Divide by Sheep runs almost perfectly on the original Surface Pro – just a hint of screen tearing crops up now and then. An even though this game isn't sold on the Windows Store, it works perfectly with touch as-is. All of the interactions and menu options can be controlled with single touches (or mouse clicks). If you have a tablet that can run it, I say go for it.

Counting sheep in your head is boring, but Divide by Sheep is one of the more enjoyable pure puzzle games I've played lately. It packs 120 challenging levels spread across four worlds, with a fifth world and thirty more levels coming soon. The great art and dark humor make what could have been a stale math exercise both fun and subversive. Grab Divide by Sheep and try not to divide those poor sheep into too many slices!

• Get Divide by Sheep for Windows PC and Mac on Steam ($4.99)

Pop the Lock is a simple game that is available for both Windows Phone and PC that challenges you to crack open a padlock. While simple in design and appearance, the puzzle game will test your skills at timing and reflex.

While Pop the Lock isn't a complicated game to pick up and play, it can drive you nuts with its level of challenge. It didn't take much time with the Windows Phone version to realize Pop the Lock is a fun time waster of a game.

Describing Pop the Lock as an uncomplicated game may be an understatement. The game lacks a proper menu and instead greets you with the gaming display with a menu button in the upper corner to access the game's settings.

Settings share the game's minimal approach with options to mute the sound and dial back the level where you will start gameplay. To begin gameplay, just tap the screen. Just be warned, Pop the Lock doesn't waste time and jumps right into the action.

The objective to Pop the Lock is to crack open the padlock that is displayed center screen by completing its combination. A red bar will rotate around the lock and when it passes over a yellow dot, you tap the screen to solve the combination (left-click on laptop or desktop). Much like you would spin the dial on a lock and stop it on a number to solve the combination.

Pop the Lock starts out easy with the first level of gameplay only requiring one yellow dot to hit with the red bar. As you advance through the gaming levels, additional yellow dots will be added to the lock's combination that you will need to hit with the red bar. For example, level nine will have nine dots to hit that will require you to tap on the screen nine times as passes over the yellow dot.

While the concept with Pop the Lock sounds easy, the challenge that comes into play is that your red mark is in constant motion. It will spin counter-clockwise along the lock's dial, and when you tap to stop the mark on a yellow dot, it will immediately turn clockwise towards the next mark.

The pace of play picks up as you advance through the game and Pop the Lock will keep you on your toes. There will be times when the next mark is a good distance around the lock dial and times when the mark is a lot closer. Your skills at timing and reaction are put to the test nicely.

Miss one mark and you fail that level of gameplay. You will find yourself tapping too soon for fear of missing the yellow dot or tapping too late as the yellow dot will seem as if it snuck up on you. If you fail a level, Pop the Lock will restart the game at your current level of play. You can always dial back to a lower level from the game's settings to give yourself a break or challenge a friend to see how many locks they can crack before missing the mark.

Overall, Pop the Lock is a fun and challenging game to pass the time with. It's not going to be a gaming title you sit down with for marathon gaming sessions, but for shorter bits of time, it does nicely. I liked the minimalistic approach the game offers, but couldn't help but think the game needs a little more depth. Maybe offer a variety of lock shapes to crack?

While Pop the Lock is available for both Windows 10 Mobile and PC, the game does play out a little better from your Windows Phone, mainly for the mobility. Pop the Lock does support landscape orientation from the phone, which gives you a little more elbow room.

Download Pop the Lock for Windows 10 Mobile and PC

Quadrilibrium is a mathematical puzzle game that is available for both Windows 10 Mobile and PC. The game challenges you to combine numerical tiles to create a value that matches target combinations. The difficulty comes into play with the limits put in place on merging the tiles.

Gameplay does take a few minutes to get used to, and even after the initial shock wears off, the game is full of head-scratching moments. Overall, Quadrilibrium is an entertaining title, and while the gaming style may not appeal to everyone, it's not a bad option to pick up when you need a little help passing the time.

Quadrilibrium's primary menu is presented in minimal fashion with button tiles to:

• Start or resume gameplay
• View your high scores
• View the "How to Play" screens
• Purchase the deluxe version ($2.99)
• Mute the sound
• View the gaming credits
• View your gaming highlights
• Quit the game

The gaming highlights include a series of screenshots that spotlight combinations you create that score the most points. The Deluxe Version of Quadrilibrium includes tile themes, tile shuffling and removes the ad support.

When you first launch gameplay with Quadrilibrium, the game will present you with the opportunity to play the tutorial. If this is your first time playing Quadrilibrium, trust me and go through the tutorial. The game has a decent learning curve, and the tutorial gives you a fighting chance at success.

In a nutshell, Quadrilibrium presents you with a series of numbered tiles. The large number is the tile's value, and the smaller number is the tile's rank. Your job is to combine adjacent tiles to ultimately create the combo tile displayed in the bottom left corner of the gaming screen. Each combination you create will earn you points and once you create that target tile, a new target will be created.

The mechanics of gameplay has you tapping on a tile to combine, and any available tiles will be highlighted. All that is left is to tap the second tile you want to combine with the first and the mathematical magic kicks in.

Now here's the tricky part. Tile values cannot exceed 32 and tile ranks cannot exceed 8. You can only combine similarly ranked tiles, and if you combine two identical values, the tile advances in rank.

Combining a value of 1 with any tile will add the two tile (e.g. 1 + 5 = 6) and combining differing values will multiply the tiles (e.g. 3 + 4 = 12). As you combine tiles, new tiles will be added to the mix. When you reach a point where none of the tiles can be combined with an adjacent tile, the game is over.

You do have one bonus item: a gem. It can be used to eliminate a single tile to make way for the desired combination. You have a limited number of gems and will earn them randomly throughout the game as you reach key scoring thresholds.

Gameplay with Quadrilibrium will drive you nuts at times in a challenging sense of the word. You will instinctively merge tiles of the same value thinking the new tile will be the sum of the merger, only to find the combo increases the tile's rank.

You also have the tile group shift that comes into play that adds to the game's challenge. Quadrilibrium's playing field isn't a clean, square grid of squares. Instead, it is a collection of tiles that vary in size that creates an odd shaped playing field that shifts ever so slightly as combos are created. You can pinch to zoom on the gaming display to view the entire field or zoom in to concentrate on one portion of the field.

In many ways, Quadrilibrium reminds me of 2048 with the multiplication and shifting tile field giving Quadrilibrium a boost in difficulty. Graphics are colorful, gameplay challenging, and overall I found Quadrilibrium to be a solid puzzle game for either Windows 10 PC or Mobile platforms. It is a free game with the option to upgrade to the Deluxe version for $2.99.

Download Quadrilibrium for Windows 10 PC and Mobile