The beauty of having my own pick for this category and not having to argue with any one about choosing a game about chopping leaves off plants. Prune is a zen little puzzle game, that has you loping the branches off tree to encourage your seedling to grow towards the light. Cutting off any part of the plant causes equivalent growth elsewhere, but not always where you want it.
Once it reaches the sun, it bursts into blooms celebrating your bonsai botany skills.
Yes, it all sounds easy, but it doesn’t take long for this little puzzler to start adding enough wrinkles to have you pondering how any tree has ever grown ever.
First there are the narrow paths you must take and the distance to the sun that means you must cut your shrub back to the narrowest of stalks reaching towards the sky. But these are simple when set against the red balls of disease that hang in the air plant and the various doors and switches that must be circumvented make it to the sunlight.
In principle, none of these challenges are actually that horrible, but the constant organic growth of your seed means that you must think fast when making the necessary cuts. When a branch gets infected, chop it, when it hits a wall, slice it, and all the while hope that its new shoots will be - at least - leaning towards the angle you need it.
To really set it off, the whole game is shown with a beautiful ink-blot print aesthetic, with hard black silhouettes and blocks of color showing the action against a pale papyrus styled background.
There is more to this one than meet the eye, and you should defiantly give it a look.
Next up we have Maria’s, the recently released Football Manager Touch 2016, which has given a new tactile take to the classic Football Manager formula.
The mobile version of this soccer management game proves to be the first year that series has really focused on bringing the full PC and Mac experience to tablets, including all three main modes - Career, Create a Club, and Challenge.
Career mode is what many would consider the base game – with you leading a digital version of your favorite real world club to victory in their respective leagues and cup. The create a club mode is almost the same, but as the name suggests you have to build your own club – right down to the strips and the staff – before trying to build their legacy from nothing. Finally Challenge mode give you different scenarios to achieve within Football Manager’s wonderfully deep simulation – you may find yourself having to save a team from relegation, a season stay afloat despite injuries, or overcoming an economic crisis.
Additional features don’t end there though, as this year more than any other Football Manager is offering even more customization of your teams on the pitch game through its create a coach option, which helps you formulate and practice specific plays to use on the field.
All this is complemented by the option of creating a coach. This is a simple editor but increases the degree of customization of the game.
The touch elements allow you to handle formations, signings, training, dealing with the press, and every other aspect of this vast game with ease – at least once it has walked you though the systems with its tutorial.
Indeed the only downside Football Manager Touch 2016 is that it’s so complex, you’ll need a powerful device to handle it.
Danni has decided that his iOS game of 2015 is the mobile port of Legend of Grimrock. This game was originally a PC and Mac title that drew upon classic Eye of the Beholder turn-based first-person action, and mixed it with modern visuals and game design to create something truly exciting.
The plot had your team of four abandoned at the top of Grimrock, a mountain jail, with the promise of freedom if you could make it through its many claustrophobic floors. Not that your captors saw much change of this, as no one had ever safely navigated it.
You have to navigate your way through its stone halls one square at a time, managing your squads formation, weapons, armor and health. So you had better think twice about having that archer and magician in the front row while fighting that giant spider… they tend to work better hiding behind the more burly and heavily armored barbarians.
So, why did this port appeal so much – well, put simply, it is perfectly suited to mobile and touch. Every part of the original is reproduced, from the brilliant puzzles to the dank visuals. Plus, the various drag and drop menus that form the inventory just feel right under your thumbs. Finally, the turn-based nature of the movement, combat and problem solving mean that you are never placed under time pressures to quickly manipulate options on more complex screen.
Defiantly worth a try for all old school gamers, and anyone looking for an involving expansive RPG experience on mobile.
Once it reaches the sun, it bursts into blooms celebrating your bonsai botany skills.
Yes, it all sounds easy, but it doesn’t take long for this little puzzler to start adding enough wrinkles to have you pondering how any tree has ever grown ever.
First there are the narrow paths you must take and the distance to the sun that means you must cut your shrub back to the narrowest of stalks reaching towards the sky. But these are simple when set against the red balls of disease that hang in the air plant and the various doors and switches that must be circumvented make it to the sunlight.
In principle, none of these challenges are actually that horrible, but the constant organic growth of your seed means that you must think fast when making the necessary cuts. When a branch gets infected, chop it, when it hits a wall, slice it, and all the while hope that its new shoots will be - at least - leaning towards the angle you need it.
To really set it off, the whole game is shown with a beautiful ink-blot print aesthetic, with hard black silhouettes and blocks of color showing the action against a pale papyrus styled background.
There is more to this one than meet the eye, and you should defiantly give it a look.
Next up we have Maria’s, the recently released Football Manager Touch 2016, which has given a new tactile take to the classic Football Manager formula.
The mobile version of this soccer management game proves to be the first year that series has really focused on bringing the full PC and Mac experience to tablets, including all three main modes - Career, Create a Club, and Challenge.
Career mode is what many would consider the base game – with you leading a digital version of your favorite real world club to victory in their respective leagues and cup. The create a club mode is almost the same, but as the name suggests you have to build your own club – right down to the strips and the staff – before trying to build their legacy from nothing. Finally Challenge mode give you different scenarios to achieve within Football Manager’s wonderfully deep simulation – you may find yourself having to save a team from relegation, a season stay afloat despite injuries, or overcoming an economic crisis.
Additional features don’t end there though, as this year more than any other Football Manager is offering even more customization of your teams on the pitch game through its create a coach option, which helps you formulate and practice specific plays to use on the field.
All this is complemented by the option of creating a coach. This is a simple editor but increases the degree of customization of the game.
The touch elements allow you to handle formations, signings, training, dealing with the press, and every other aspect of this vast game with ease – at least once it has walked you though the systems with its tutorial.
Indeed the only downside Football Manager Touch 2016 is that it’s so complex, you’ll need a powerful device to handle it.
Danni has decided that his iOS game of 2015 is the mobile port of Legend of Grimrock. This game was originally a PC and Mac title that drew upon classic Eye of the Beholder turn-based first-person action, and mixed it with modern visuals and game design to create something truly exciting.
The plot had your team of four abandoned at the top of Grimrock, a mountain jail, with the promise of freedom if you could make it through its many claustrophobic floors. Not that your captors saw much change of this, as no one had ever safely navigated it.
You have to navigate your way through its stone halls one square at a time, managing your squads formation, weapons, armor and health. So you had better think twice about having that archer and magician in the front row while fighting that giant spider… they tend to work better hiding behind the more burly and heavily armored barbarians.
So, why did this port appeal so much – well, put simply, it is perfectly suited to mobile and touch. Every part of the original is reproduced, from the brilliant puzzles to the dank visuals. Plus, the various drag and drop menus that form the inventory just feel right under your thumbs. Finally, the turn-based nature of the movement, combat and problem solving mean that you are never placed under time pressures to quickly manipulate options on more complex screen.
Defiantly worth a try for all old school gamers, and anyone looking for an involving expansive RPG experience on mobile.
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Tech