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.

A while back we reviewed Spirit of Hero, a 3D MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) from Vietnamese developer TeaMobi. Although fairly buggy and riddled with translation errors, the game offered a lot of content and a unique look at Vietnamese history and mythology. And there aren’t exactly tons of free to play MMORPGs on Windows Phone.

It turns out that TeaMobi is something of an MMO specialist. They offer two more massively multiplayer online games on our favorite smartphone platform: Ninja School and Avatar. Today we look at Ninja School (aka Ninja School Online), a free platforming RPG similar to the popular Maple Story series. Surprisingly, this one works with both Windows Phone 7 and 8. Do technical problems and poor translation keep this game from ninja awesomeness? Find out in our full review.

Create a ninja

After launching the game, players will choose between Vietnamese and English (or should I say Engrish) languages. You’ll then have to create an account for the game. Annoyingly, Ninja School recognizes my login details from Spirit of Hero but will NOT allow me to actually use that account. So I had to create a different account – a needless hassle.

Next you’ll arrive at a screen consisting of three blank boxes and no text. It turns out this is the character selection screen; I guess somebody forgot to label it. Just pick a box and you can create a 2D ninja of your very own. The selection of parts is disappointingly slim. You’ll just choose a gender and hairstyle, and that’s it. At least we don’t have to select a seemingly meaningless attribute (unlike Spirit of Hero).

Next comes server selection. Choose from four servers. None are named by location, so we have no criteria by which to make the selection. I bet they’re all located in Vietnam anyway.

Ancient Japanese village

Once the actual game begins, your ninja appears in lovely a 2D village set within feudal Japan. The village is populated with both NPCs (non-player characters) and other players running about their ninja business. Everything is colorful and fairly well drawn, and the backgrounds are filled with layers of parallax (independently scrolling layers). It’s quite a visual treat, although slightly less so than the real Maple Story.

Unlike Spirit of Hero, there’s no introductory story to explain your overall mission. But you do endure a very similar first quest: talking to all the NPCs of the village. Each one performs a different function such as selling food or providing transport to other areas. Language issues aside, you’ll have to speak to each NPC in a particular order, so pay attention to the mission description on the left side of the screen.

The NPCs all speak in utterly terrible English, full of spelling, grammatical, and capitalization errors. TeaMobi badly needs to hire a native English speaker to proofread their text. On the plus side, Ninja School’s characters have much less awful names than those of Spirit of Hero.

The next mission actually quizzes players on the function of each NPC, which is both pedantic and boring. Complete it to get a sword, which you’ll use to chop down hapless “scarecrows” (actually training dummies) throughout the village. Then you’ll finally unlock access to the outside areas and actual enemies, but only after buying and eating some Onigiri from a vendor.

Ninja combat

Ninja School’s training missions are aggressively dull and run the risk of scaring off new players. Stick with it though and you’ll find the combat areas are much more enjoyable. The controls take some getting used to, though. There is no jump button like you’d expect from a platformer. Instead, you press up on the virtual d-pad to jump. I found that switching to the virtual analog stick in the Config menu (found under the “General” menu) made walking and jumping a lot more pleasant.

On the right side of the screen, you have an interaction button that doubles as attack. Surrounding it are three more buttons: two for potions and one that switches between different characters to target. The fighting is simple but fun; just run up to enemies like snails and frogs (misspelled as “fog” within the game) and whack away. Sometimes my character would continue attacking even if I stopped pressing the button, but not others. I suspect there’s a way to intentionally keep the attacks going.

Although I got used to the controls after a while, they still need improvement. And MOGA controller support would be a wonderful addition. However, this appears to be a Windows Phone 7 game so MOGA support wouldn't be technically possible.

Social features

People play MMOs for different reasons. One of those is to meet other players and socialize with them. One thing I can say in this game’s favor is that it feels well-populated. You’ll encounter lots of live players in the starting town and surrounding areas, selling the idea that you’re in an MMO instead of a single-player game. If there are instanced zones, I haven’t seen them yet.

That said, Ninja School’s chat system is just as bad as Spirit of Hero’s. Both games lack a global chat option. Any chat messages you type will be visible only to nearby players, not everybody.

You can add people to a friends list, but the process for doing so is unintuitive. After tapping and selecting another player or switching to them with the aforementioned targeting button, a life meter appears below his or her name. Tap the interaction button and your ninja will run over to the target, at which point a poorly-formatted context menu finally pops up. You can use it to befriend, trade, chat, fight, and party up with the other player.

Ninja School appears to support clans as well – you can view your own clan info from within the “General” menu. But I haven’t found the option to edit that info or actually create a clan. Either the feature has yet to be implemented or I just haven’t unlocked it so far.

In-app purchases

Ninja School has two forms of currency: kin and coins. Kin appears to be a shortening of bundōkin, a form of currency in 16th century Japan. It could also be a fictional currency, or just a translation mistake. Hard to say with games from this particular developer. Anyway, kin is the soft currency that you’ll earn from completing missions. I haven’t encountered a way to purchase or use coins yet, but coins are likely a premium currency.

Loving an imperfect ninja

Ninja School has a lot of things going against it: connection issues, awkward controls, and super poor translation. The translation is actually worse than in Spirit Hero, in fact. You’ll sometimes encounter Vietnamese text in places, even having chosen English at the game’s onset. And yes, these language issues (and awkward menus) make playing the game harder than it should be.

But! The design of the game itself actually won me over here, unlike Spirit of Hero. This is the only MMO platformer on Windows Phone, and that’s a fascinating and addictive style of game. Exploring beautiful 2D environments and encountering other players’ cute ninjas along the way is my idea of a good time. So if you’re a fan of platformers (and/or Maple Story), Ninja School is definitely worth a try.

• Ninja School – Windows Phone 7 and 8 – 17 MB – Free – Store Link

Microsoft and 343 Industries have announced the latest installment in the Halo franchise, called Halo 5: Guardians. Scheduled to hit the Xbox One in the fall of 2015, the game chronicles Master Chief's journey following the events of Halo 4.

343 Industries general manager Bonnie Ross mentioned that Halo 5 will be a "bigger effort than Halo 4," and that the upcoming game will "incorporate the things we learned from Halo 4 about technology, aesthetics, performance and scale — and perhaps more importantly, understanding and embracing a community of gamers who love what lies at the heart of this game, and the limitless potential of the Halo universe."

Halo 5 will run on a new game engine developed by 343 Industries, with the studio retooling its technology to take full advantage of the next-gen capabilities offered by the Xbox One to "create worlds and experiences worthy of next-gen" consoles.

Ross also clarified her statements made during last year's E3 conference: "Many fans noted that I was very deliberate with my phrasing on stage at E3 last year. I spoke about a 'journey,' rather than a destination, and that journey definitely begins in 2014 with a giant leap, rather than one small step."

Further information regarding Halo 5 will be announced at Xbox E3 2014 media event, which will be held on June 9. In addition to a new Halo game, Microsoft is also working on a live action television series which is being directed by Steven Spielberg. The live action series is also scheduled to launch sometime next fall.

Source: Xbox Wire

EA and Microsoft have launched a batch of official apps for Titanfall, the popular next-gen first person shooter (FPS) game. The companion app – available on Android, iOS, Windows 8 and Windows Phone – keeps players up-to-date with everything Titanfall when not at the gamepad and enjoying the destructive power of their titan.

Content included in the Titanfall app includes rich intel about the history of the Titanfall universe, along with characters, weapons, maps, modes and even controls. Basically, this app will prove to become the bible of everything to do with the game. Not only is it an interactive encyclopaedia, but EA have also made it so players can check their statistics, enabling them to boast about total kills, favorite weapons, time spent playing and more.

Don't think it's just for when you're away from the console, however. Titanfall fans will be able to take advantage of features available when connected to an Xbox One console, really amping up the companion app experience. There's a second-screen map, perfect for giving players an interactive edge over the action on the battlefield. This map also makes it easy to see and track teammates, zooming inn on key areas of the map.

Some really neat functionality is included in the companion app, which we're sure many of you Titanfall fans will appreciate.

• Download Titanfall Companion App (Windows 8, 710 MB)
• Download Titanfall Companion App (Windows Phone, 710 MB)

Thanks, meandu229 and Mohamed A, for the tips!

At first glance, the Windows Phone game Shift may not be very impressive. It is a game of tic-tac-toe so it cannot be that challenging of a game, right?

While Shift is a tic-tac-toe game for Windows Phone 8, the game adds an interesting twist to the game. Game play is done in match style where you have to be the first to win three games, but you have to win by two games. Game play has a continuous pace until someone wins the match, which gives Shift that twist to make it stand out a little.

Shift is a fun, casual game for your Windows Phone gaming library and the twist in game play helps give the game a little staying power.

Game Design

When you first launch Shift, the game will walk you through a series of tutorial screens that outline game play. Shift is a simple game of tic-tac-toe with each game win earning you a point. The goal is to be the first to earn three points (or wins) but you have to win by two points.

You can play against the computer or enjoy a two player game (pass and play style) and as one game of tic-tac-toe is complete, the game board will shift left, right, up or down to create a new game. The game will automatically shift when a draw or "cat's game" is reached (no winner).

The game shifts can leave player's marks on the board, which at times can give one player an advantage over the other.

Game Settings

While game play is simple, yet challenging, Shift does have a settings menu that is accessible from the gaming screen (the gear symbol in the bottom left corner).

Settings for Shift include switching from the two-player and single player game, increase the computer's gaming skills, turning on/off the game sound and re-play the tutorial.

The 'bot skill level is set mid-level by default and moving it to the extreme or "bring it on" side of the scale is almost punishing. The easier or "take it easy" side of the scale is perfect for younger players.

Overall Impression

Shift is a simple game of tic-tac-toe and the shifts that occur during game play helps give the game a slight edge. While Shift may not be your first choice of games when you are in the mood for lengthy gaming sessions, it isn't a bad choice when you need help passing shorter bits of time.

Shift is also a good gaming title for your Windows Phone Kid's Corner and the two-player mode may save you a few napkins at the restaurant when your child challenges you to a tic-tac-toe match.

While the game may not have a lot of bells and whistle, Shift is an entertaining version of the classic tic-tac-toe game. Shift is a free game that is available for Windows Phone 8 and you can find your copy of Shift here in the Windows Phone Store.

Disney and Microsoft have been rolling out the hits lately, introducing three new games in the last few days, including Lost Light, Jelly Car 3 and Disney Solitaire. This morning, the classic Mickey Mouse game ‘Castle Of Illusion’ arrives on Windows Phone and Windows 8.1, making it quite the combo.

Castle of Illusion came out for iOS and Android late last year, so while the game is not brand new, it’s not that old either. Clearly Microsoft and Disney have a partnership going where they’re bringing all new (and older) titles over to the Windows ecosystem, something that should sit well for those with children.

What can you expect from Castle of Illusion? Over at Microsoft’s Fire Hose, they describe the game thusly:

“The evil witch Mizrabel has kidnapped Minnie Mouse and taken her to the castle, where Mickey must seek her out. Mickey must travel through enchanted forests, take on armies of rebellious toys and navigate mazes of living books – all in search of his captive sweetheart. There are five magical worlds filled with Mizrabel’s powerful minions, twists and turns, and hidden challenges to uncover and master.”

It sure sounds like a wild ride, especially for fans of the classic game now re-imagined for tablets, PCs and your phone.  Check out the trailer for the game to get an idea of what to expect.

That’s the good news; the bad news is both pricing and the lack of trial. For the Windows version, you’re looking at a $14.99 price tag, while Windows Phone is still a super expensive $9.99, (and no, these are not even Xbox Live titles). Throw in the fact that there is no trial for either version, and we’re not sure how many of you will blindly jump at this offer.

In anticipation of your complaints, we’ll be working on a demo video of both games in the next day, so sit tight, and we’ll give you our initial thoughts and impressions.

• Download Castle of Illusion for Windows 8.1 ($14.99) – 470 MB
• Download Castle of Illusion for Windows Phone 8 ($9.99) – 467 MB; Needs 1 GB of RAM or more!

It was only the other day when we covered Despicable Me: Minion Rush missing from the Windows Phone Store, but now the title is once again available for download. Should you require reminding, the developers had to pull the endless runner from the store due to an incorrect XAP being published on the store, enabling players to access developer tools to activate 'super powers'.

The latest release (version 1.7.2.1) was also believed to have improved 512MB RAM support, essentially making the game "seem faster" though we aren't able to confirm. Head to the store to download Despicable Me: Minion Rush and let us know in the comments should you notice anything new.

• Download Despicable Me: Minion Rush (512MB compatible – 59MB)

Thanks, Fahmi, for the tip!

We have several blackjack games to choose from on Windows Phone and Windows 8, most being of the free-and-supported-by-ads variety. But hey, ads can be annoying!

With that in mind, I recently checked out a paid universal game called Blackjack Assassin from DeadCode Software (the trial is fully featured and ad-supported). With a name like that, you might expect a cool and quirky approach to the traditional game of Jack Black, I mean blackjack. Blackjack Assassin is actually a very straight-laced blackjack simulation, but dedicated fans of the card game might not mind. Head past the break for our full review.

Simple game, simple simulation

At start up, Blackjack Assassin zooms past its title screen and directly into the game of blackjack. No menus to deal with or multiple modes to select from, for better or worse. Players start with $1,000 worth of chips and simply try to win as much as possible by playing against the AI dealer. You can play till the money runs out, or start a new game at any time. Assassin always saves your progress in the current game, so you needn’t start from scratch when resuming the game later on.

The playing field on Windows Phone consists of a clean-looking table whose color can be set to red, blue, or green. Your cards appear near the bottom, with the dealer’s at the top. Along the left side of the screen are the four types of chips with which players can bet. At the bottom you’ll find your chips total, icons for betting, hitting, and standing, a hint button (which appears as a question mark), and the menu button (ellipsis).

What you won’t see is the actual dealer, or any other character. Despite having a great title and nicely drawn Store icon and title screen, Blackjack Assassin itself just doesn’t have any personality or flair. That’s not a crime for a blackjack game. But when you give the game a creative title and icon/title screen to match, that creates an expectation for some assassin-themed imagery, characters, and maybe even game modes. Even the Win/Lose/Surrender visuals are completely plain and underwhelming (plus they need sound effects).

Options and references

Missing assassins aside, Blackjack Assassin is still a good no-frills single-player blackjack simulator. During the game, you can tap the hint button to view an evaluation of the odds and recommendation for staying or hitting – quite useful. The menu button brings up three choices as well:

• Table Rules: Toggle six different options. The terminology is difficult to decipher for this casual blackjack fan, but I guess serious players would understand options like “Decks in shoe.”
• Preferences: A few simple preferences like table and card back color. Users can swipe between Preferences and Table Rules pages without returning to gameplay.
• Strategy Chart: A color-coded chart that recommends whether to stand, hit, etc. based on your hand and the dealer’s hand. Swipe left or right to check out the legend for the chart.

All three screens are formatted for portrait orientation only on Windows Phone, even though the game itself uses landscape orientation. Landscape support for the menus and charts is a must, so hopefully those get added in the near future. On Windows 8, the chart is formatted for widescreen and the Rules and Preferences are tucked away in the Options sidebar rather than within the game's UI.

Universal and off to a good start

Even though Blackjack Assassin’s presentation is a bit of a letdown, the game still looks better visually than most of the free blackjack games on the Store. It brings a fast and authentic recreation of the card game to the table, without unsightly ads or IAPs marring the experience. The hint feature could even help you improve your game.

Hopefully DeadCode continues to improve the UI and push the game towards the potential of the “Assassin” title. A few more game modes wouldn’t hurt, either. But if you’re serious about blackjack, this game is already a good buy as-is. Especially if you use more than one modern Windows operating system...

Blackjack Assassin is a universal app, so you can buy once on Windows Phone, Windows 8, or Windows RT and get access to all three versions. However, the game does not support cloud saves so progress doesn’t transfer between platforms. Considering the lack of long-term goals or modes, the absence of cloud save support is not a huge loss for this particular game.

• Blackjack Assassin – Windows Phone 8 – 4 MB – $1.49 – Store Link (universal app)
• Blackjack Assassin – Windows 8 and RT – 6 MB – $1.49 – Store Link (universal app)

After teasing a new title some time ago, fans of the MonsterUp games will be able to rejoice with the cute characters going up high into a brand new endless runner. Just like other games and media making the move to this genre of entertainment (which is proving popular across the mobile ecosystem), players are able to lend the monsters a hand with collecting gems and essentially running as far as possible.

Taking their favorite characters on an endless sprint, players are tasked with avoiding obstacles in their path and collecting gems as they progress through the environment. Don't let the familiar gameplay mechanics put you off MonsterUp Candy Run as it's a sweet title that's well worth checking out. Booting up the game will reveal options to get started and/or connect to Facebook, as well as access to the in-game store.

The gameplay is slightly different from what gamers may be accustomed to with the likes of Temple Run 2. Instead of physically moving the device, one has to flick left, right (there are three 'lanes') and up to navigate throughout. Moving round corners and choosing which way to go at junctions is determined by which lane you're in, so be sure to get in position beforehand.

There are a variety of optional upgrades available for players to purchase, including numerous characters rendered in 3D. Gems can be bought with real money in-game, should you not wish to grind the gameplay and earn the gems. That said, it's a neat little game and worth picking up if you're a fan of the MonsterUp games. Note that this is an initial release and is supported by the AppCampus program.

• Download MonsterUp Candy Run ($1.99 – 34MB – 1GB RAM required)

Subway Surfers is one of the few games on Windows Phone to keep pace in updates with iOS and Android. Indeed, the endless runner is updated day for day with those ‘World Tour’ updates. Sure, they’re just re-skinning the game for some new visual flare, but it’s still a fun nod to its users who may get bored. Toss in some new monthly contests to sweeten the deal and you have one of our favorite games.

Today’s update brings you to the alleys of Tokyo, with new vibrant streets, a new Windglider board and new Harumi and Ninja outfits. The developers behind the game, Kiloo, look to have also added a notification system to tell you about new updates (at least it reminded us, even after today’s update). There’s even a new ‘try’ feature for the Lowrider board, which is one heck of a tease for in-app purchases.

Does today bring 512 MB support? No, no it does not. So that is still one major complaint against this game, but for all of those with 1 GB or more of RAM, you’re good to go.

To start collecting those new Japanese dolls for power-ups, head to the Store to pick up 1.24 ‘World Tour: Tokyo’ update.

• Download Subway Surfers (31 MB – free – 1 GB RAM – Windows Phone 8 or above)

Thanks, Moodi Darkness, for the tip!

Castle of Illusion lets you play as Mickey Mouse in this classic game re-imagined for tablets, PCs, and phones. It has been available on iOS and Android since late last year, but we’re glad that we can now play it on Windows and Windows Phone devices.

Priced at $14.99 and $9.99 without any free trial at the Windows and Windows Phone Store, you’re probably wondering if it’s worth it. We’ve spent some time with both versions of the game, so head past the break to see some gameplay.

Features:

• Play as Mickey Mouse in this reimagining of the classic Sega Genesis/Mega Drive game.
• Experience a world of wonder, brought to life with all-new graphics and magical adventures.
• Journey across five magical worlds filled with Mizrabel’s powerful minions.
• Complete hidden challenges to customize Mickey with classic costumes.

Mickey has to travel through enchanted forests, take on armies of rebellious toys and navigate mazes of living books to find Minnie. Using the touchscreen display, you can move with the virtual joystick on the left side of the screen. The green jump button is on the right side of the display. The red button is to throw items.

Press and hold the jump button to jump higher. You can also jump on enemies’ head to bounce higher. We were also able to play using the Surface Pro Type Cover on the Surface Pro 3. Spacebar is jump, while Ctrl is throw. Use the directional keys are for moving.

The top left corner shows up to 5 stars. When an enemy hits Mickey, a star disappears and he continues playing from where he was hit. When Mickey runs out of stars, it takes away 1 statue, which is the number below the stars. If Mickey runs out of statues, you go back to the beginning of the level.

The mixture of 2D and 3D graphics is very satisfying. It brings back memories of Crash Bandicoot. The music is playful and doesn’t feel repetitive. There’s also a narrator that makes you feel like you’re a character inside a book.

The bosses are tough in Castle of Illusions, but you can simply keep trying. The first boss requires you to jump on its head a few times, while avoiding getting stomped on or being rolled over. After defeating the bosses, you collect Rainbow Gems, so you can form the Rainbow Bridge required to cross over to Mizrabel’s tower. We don’t want to spoil too much for you, so if the game sounds interesting so far, you should go ahead and get it.

Castle of Illusion’s simple run and jump gameplay makes it an awesome time-waster.  While you can play it on a Windows tablet with just a touchscreen display, we find it more convenient to use the physical keys on a keyboard. It’s also great on Windows Phone. In fact, it feels better to control Mickey on the smaller screen.

Castle of Illusions costs $14.99 for the Windows 8.1 version and $9.99 for the Windows Phone version. We don’t like that it costs more than most games and doesn’t provide a free trial, but this game is actually quite enjoyable. If you are looking for something new to play, we think you should go ahead with the purchase.

Earlier this year we learned that Worms Battlegrounds would be coming to the Xbox One. The game is part of ID@Xbox, the program that helps independent developers bring their games to the Xbox One. Starting today right now, you can grab Worms Battlegrounds for just $24.99.

What's Worms Battlegrounds all about? Here's the game description:

"Worms Battlegrounds brings friends and families together in the noble pursuit of self‐improvement, world domination and exploding sheep. Worms Battlegrounds is the biggest and best Worms game to date – more worms, larger landscapes, more dynamic water, more weapons and more customization items than ever before. It features beautiful high definition 3D visuals (but still retains the classic 2D gameplay) with new lighting effects, new features to help users interact socially, exciting additions to improve the single player experience, and more of everything a Worms fan could want."

The game also features clan support, day to night lighting transitions, 65 weapons, various game modes and more. To learn more, check out our full review. And be sure to join the WPCentral clan if you get the game!

Worms Battlegrounds is available for the Xbox One and costs $24.98. Grab it in the Xbox One Games Store.

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!

Gameloft’s Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour is probably the best first-person shooter on Windows Phone. Not that there’s any real competition; the only other FPS I can think of is the same company’s disappointing N.O.V.A. 3. Modern Combat 4’s strength was in its single-player campaign; the multiplayer mode was pretty much a bust (see our review). That might just change in the upcoming sequel…

We’ve just come across some new multiplayer details for Modern Combat 5: Blackout, plus the two screenshots above. Some of the new features for part 5 include new game types, squad support, chat, limited time events, and improved leaderboards. These improvements should make for a compelling online multiplayer experience on Windows Phone – if Gameloft gets the matchmaking right this time. Head past the break for more details.

Squads and chat

Modern Combat 4 Windows Phone screenshots

Persistent squads are probably the biggest new addition to Modern Combat’s formula.

“You can join squads with your friends or any other player you meet online, then take your squad online against other squads from around the world,” Gameloft promises.

These seem to be what most online games refer to as clans, although Gameloft’s choice of “squad” over “clan” could indicate that squads will be smaller than traditional online clans. Or they could just be parties – a team of players that stay together between multiplayer matches, but don’t remain associated with each other after leaving multiplayer mode.

Assuming squads work like parties, the feature would go a long way towards making up for part 4’s awful matchmaking. See, in the last game you had to choose between eight different multiplayer game types and then hope that other players would choose the same type and then enter your lobby. That game type division basically kept players from finding each other, the exact opposite of what you want in a multiplayer mode.

By allowing everyone in a squad to stick together regardless of game type, at least you have a core group of players who will populate whatever game you pick. But Gameloft could take things a step further and simply allow players to search for open games regardless of type, which would populate games much more efficiently than any other system. It’s not like most online phone games have huge numbers of players online at the same time.

Either way, the new global chat feature should help since players can organize games outside of matchmaking. Squads will also have a dedicated chat channel, so the team can communicate and plan without the opposing team eavesdropping. Modern Combat 4 already had a voice chat feature on other platforms, but that feature was omitted from the Windows Phone version.  Presumably, we’ll receive the new chat. Gameloft hasn’t confirmed whether it will be voice or text chat, but global chat usually means text chat.

Game types, events, and leaderboards

Modern Combat 4 Windows Phone screenshots

Another change that should help with keeping games populated is the decreased number of multiplayer modes. Whereas Modern Combat 4 has eight different game types, part 5 will only offer four:

• Capture The Flag
• VIP
• Free for All
• Team Battle

This is one case where less is more, because all the game types in the world won’t matter if most of them are empty. Four core types is much more reasonable for a game of this scale. All game types will support up to 12 players.

As for limited time events, both players and squads will be able to complete these special events. The events will offer multiple reward tiers. No rewards have been confirmed, but XP, currency, and customization items all seem likely.

Finally, Gameloft promises three types of online leaderboards: global, squad-based, and limited time events. Sounds good to me.

A few more things

Modern Combat 4 Windows Phone screenshot

One blast blessing coming to Modern Combat 5 that we’ve known about for a while: progression will be unified between single-player and multiplayer. That means that experience and items unlocked in one mode transfer to the other mode, which will be great for players who prefer one to the other. It should also add replay value to the single-player campaign, since the things you do there will carry over to multiplayer.

Modern Combat 5 doesn’t have an official release date on any platform just yet. Lately, Gameloft has been releasing Windows Phone versions of its games about a month or so after the iOS and Android versions. We’ve definitely got a few months to wait, but it should arrive by the end of the year. Like all post-Kingdoms & Lords releases from the publisher, it will not be Xbox-enabled.

Gameloft has promised controller support but NOT specifically for Windows Phone, so it’s a complete toss-up whether this one will work with MOGA controllers. Let’s hope!

Goldfish in the Sewer is a relatively new racing game for Windows Phone that approaches things from a different angle.

You are tasked with racing a goldfish through the twists and turns of the local sewer system for time. Make the run fast enough to earn a medal and you get to advance to the next race.

Goldfish in the Sewer has potential with nice graphics and challenging game play. The biggest drawback to the game is the racing controls that may have you swimming upstream with little hope for success.

Game Layout

The main menu for Goldfish in the Sewer holds options to view the online leaderboard, play the game and rate the game in the Windows Phone Store. If you sideswipe at the main menu you will discover additional menus that include the game's settings and access to the developer's social networking sites (Facebook and Twitter).

Settings include turning on/off the following features:

• High Graphics
• Sounds
• Vibrations

As well as setting the countdown (to go) timer, setting your user name and choosing your gaming control style.

Goldfish in the Sewer has five control styles that steers your fish through the sewer. The styles include:

• Virtual Pad: An on-screen joystick
• Tilt Controls
• Touch Controls: Touch the left side of the screen to turn left, right to turn right
• Touch Invert: The opposite orientation of the Touch Control

Each control style has merit (well almost each) and the key to having a successful race is finding a control that you feel comfortable with.

The virtual pad has more of a positive, responsive feel. The touch controls are not as responsive but matches up nicely with how you would hold your Windows Phone while playing the game. I wasn't a fan of the tilt controls in that they were not very responsive.

Goldfish in the Sewer has 24 races that are spread across two worlds. You can re-play each level against a ghost player that represents your last race at that particular level. To advance through the levels you will have to match a time quick enough to earn a medal (gold, silver or bronze).

Game Play

When you are ready to jump into the game, you will get the obligatory "2, 1, Go!" countdown and your goldfish will begin his swim towards the finish line. Controls steer the fish's direction and you can bounce the fish off the sides of the sewer pipes make the fish swim faster. Red booster areas are present throughout the course to give your fish a little more zip and green ooze will slow your fish down.

Along with the boosts and ooze there is also fruit scattered about the race course that you can collect to reduce the level's time limit.

The racing screen will have your current time and best time displayed in the upper left corner with your race time goals in the upper right corner. Across the bottom of the screen is a reset button, a speedometer and the virtual pad if you've chosen that as your control.

It takes a little time to get the hang of steering your fish and don't be shocked if your first race is more than double the minimum racing time. Even after you settle down with a comfortable set of steering controls, Goldfish in the Sewer can be a challenging racing game.

Overall Impression

The pluses with Goldfish in the Sewer include nice graphics, challenging races and the addition of ghost racers to make replaying the levels more interesting.

The downside to the game is likely the steering controls. Regardless of our personal preference, each control style should be effective. I was rather surprised how bad the tilt controls were and had the tilt steering been more responsive, that might have been the style to choose. As is, the virtual pad might be the only control worth its salt.

The twenty-four racing levels is enough to keep the game from growing stale too quickly. Still, I wouldn't mind seeing a multi-fish racing option or another race mode to give the game a little variety.

The developer has fine-tuned the game a good bit since the early development (as seen in the above demo video) and overall, Goldfish in the Sewer is a fun game for Windows Phone that is a nice change of pace from your traditional racing games.

• Goldfish in the Sewer - Windows Phone 8.x/7.x - Trial/$.99 - Store Link

Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs launched on consoles this week. Everyone who plays mainstream games is neck-deep in that game’s free-roaming campaign, extensive multiplayer modes, and cyberpunk hacking gameplay. Yours truly is still busy with Wolfenstein: The New Order, so the only dogs I’m watching are of the mechanical variety.

Xbox One also has a new indie game to play, courtesy of the ID@Xbox program. Worms Battlegrounds is the latest in the long-running Worms franchise from UK-based Team 17. Although about a million miles away from a free-roaming epic like Watch Dogs, Battlegrounds does sport a fully-voiced campaign, 3D landscapes and physics, local and online multiplayer, and even clan support. It’s the biggest Worms game ever, is what people who measure Worms games say. Read on for our full review with exclusive screenshots and hands-on video!

The great Worms caper

Although Worms games tend to feature fairly lengthy single-player campaigns, they don’t usually have a story or much connective tissue holding them together. Your team competes against one or more AI teams in a series of deathmatches (with occasional puzzle levels or ninja rope challenges breaking things up), but that’s it.

Worms Battlegrounds (an enhanced port of last year’s PC game Worms: Clan Wars) actually starts out with a mildly cinematic introduction voiced by British actress Katherine Parkinson. The evil Lord Crowley Mesmer has stolen the Stone Carrot, a magical artifact that helped create the Worms World. Artifact in-hand, Mesmer and his army of hypnotized Worms have holed up within a museum. Under the direction of the oddball narrator (who ranges from funny to annoying), players must break into the museum and get the Carrot back.

The story’s pretty much an excuse to provide wacky intros for each stage and justify the history-based environments, but it does lend Battlegrounds a greater sense of import than previous Worms games. The actual levels are far more structured than before. You’ll command a single Worm (or a full team, depending on the level), navigate mazes and platforms, and complete various objectives beyond just killing enemy worms. There are even checkpoints now, reducing the frustration of falling into a pit, getting blown up, or otherwise dying.

Worms combat

Whether battling the CPUs or engaging in 4-player local and online matches, Battlegrounds plays just like every mainline Worms game to come before it. Each player gets a team of four Worms, which now come in four classes: Soldier, Scout, Scientist, and Heavy.  Players take turns controlling one of their Worms and trying to kill off as many of the other teams’ Worms as possible.

Much of the fun in Battlegrounds comes from the humorous arsenal of weapons at your disposal. Initially, you’ll only have access to basic armaments like the bazooka, grenades, and dynamite. New items include the Aqua Pack, Winged Monkey, and Mega Mortar. With a whopping total of 65 weapons and items to choose from, battles will be even more varied 9and crazier) than ever before.

The Xbox Worms games have always suffered from a somewhat unnatural control scheme in which the X button jumps. You know, like no other game ever. Battlegrounds starts out the same way, but also offers a Modern control option. Pick Modern and A becomes the jump button, which rocks. But B is the fire button and X brings up the menu – those two should really be reversed. Baby steps, I guess!

Multiplayer

Good news for local multiplayer fans who haven’t picked up four Xbox One controllers just yet. Worms Battlegrounds allows four players to share a single controller! They don’t even have to have their own Xbox Live profiles, either. Players can sign in as guests, which goes much more quickly than it did on the 360. Guests only have access to the teams the host player has created, so you might want to create a few extra teams before hopping into local battles.

Having set the number of players, you’ll need to choose between Deathmatch and Forts modes. The goal is to kill all enemy Worms in both modes, but Forts puts each team inside of its own base instead of out in the wild. In custom games, players can also choose the type of landscape, switch between landscape templates (shapes), and set the density of explosive barrels and other objects. You can even create your own levels for local games, though they unfortunately can’t be shared online.

No friends? No worries, Battlegrounds supports full online multiplayer as well.

Customization, clans, and new features

Outside of battle, players can engage in the usual customization options like naming their teams and the individual Worms within the team. If your team doesn’t have silly names, you’re not doing it right! You can also dress your Worms in a variety of silly hats, eyewear, and mustaches as well as choosing what gravestones will show up when they bite the bullet. And yes, there are more voices to choose from than ever before. Who wouldn’t want their Worms sounding like comedians, boxing commentators, and movie announcers?

The standout new feature of Battlegrounds is clan support! Form a clan, design an emblem, and assign ranks to its members. Clans can take part in battles and leagues against other clans, bringing new long-term life to the classic Worms multiplayer mode. And of course, we already have a WPCentral clan ready to go! If you’re an Xbox One gamer and a Worms fan, be sure to join up as soon as you buy the game.

Other new features in Battlegrounds include larger environments, more dynamic water, day and night cycles within individual levels, and five new visual themes.

Achievements

Battlegrounds includes 29 Achievements worth a total of 1,000 GamerScore. Many Achievements revolve around scoring particular types of kills or cumulative kills. Several involve online multiplayer, such as winning five games in a row and winning a Clan League Match. Thankfully there aren’t any grindy Achievements requiring a ridiculous number of online wins, unlike past games.

The most challenging Achievement should be the one for completing all 10 Worm Ops single-player missions in less than eight minutes. The game also has two secret Achievements: one for killing an ally during an online match, and the other for using every weapon and utility in the game. All told, Battlegrounds should be a fun and varied completion for Achievement enthusiasts.

Expensive but good

Worms Battlegrounds is basically a bigger and better game of Worms, building off of the new graphical engine introduced in Worms Revolution for Xbox 360. Like other indie games we’ve seen so far, Battlegrounds doesn’t push the Xbox One hardware. It also takes a bit too long to load, as with practically every Xbox One game out there. Next month’s external hard drive support should help with load times though. Load times aside, Battlegrounds is just a smooth, fun game with serious multiplayer appeal.

The only problem Worms fans might have with Battlegrounds is its price: $24.99. Given that Worms 2 launched at $9.99 and Revolution at $14.99, Battlegrounds is the priciest downloadable Worms game to date. I wouldn't have priced this one above the $20 mark. But with a more expansive single-player game than ever and robust clan support, you’re also getting more bang for your buck than with previous games. If you enjoy Worms or non-FPS multiplayer games, don’t let the price scare you away from Worms Battlegrounds.

• Worms Battlegrounds – Xbox One – 1.92 GB – $24.99/£19.99 – Xbox.com Link– Amazon UK link (no retail version in the US)

Hey cool kids, are you ready for the latest installment of our new monthly feature, the best Windows Phone games of the month? Each month we look at a collection of newly released Windows Phone games that stand out from the crowd. The titles we choose range in genre and production value. Anything goes as long as it’s fun, original, and freshly launched.

This month we did get a couple of new Xbox-enabled games: Kinectimals Unleashed and Wordament Snap Attack. But for my money, it’s the non-Xbox games that took the cake during May. Competitive players received two excellent raiding games: Cloud Raiders and Royal Revolt 2. Racing and obstacle course enthusiasts got the Trials-like Old School Racer 2 to challenge them. And a one-man developer called Radiangames published a sleek twin-stick shooter called JoyJoy while giving away the amazing Bombcats SE completely free.

Quick impressions and Store links after the break!

Cloud Raiders

Although it launched on the first of the month, Game Insight’s Cloud Raiders remains one of May’s best Windows Phone titles. For one thing, it has unrivaled cross-platform multiplayer and cloud support. Jump between Windows Phone, iOS, Android, and Facebook at will – all of your progress will follow.

More importantly, Cloud Raiders is simply the best Clash of Clans alternative on our platform – better than Gameloft’s Total Conquest by a mile. Players will create a base on their own floating islands and then attack other players’ bases in order to steal their resources. But they can attack you as well, so you’ll need to design your base wisely and upgrade its many turrets and walls as often as possible.

The actual battles in Cloud Raiders are a bit on the simplistic side, as you basically just decide where and when to launch the various type of units you take along on the raid. But there is some real strategy in those decisions. Plus it’s always fun to see how much of an enemy’s base you can destroy.

I started playing this game months ago on Android and I still play it daily on Windows Phone. We even have a WPCentral clan that skilled players can join! There’s a lot more to say about Cloud Raiders, so check out our full review to learn more.

• Cloud Raiders – Windows Phone 8 – 84 MB – Free – Store Link

Old School Racer 2

Hey Trials fans, are you feeling left out due to Trials Fusion’s recent launch on non-Windows Phone platforms? Luck for you, Riddlersoft’s Old School Racer 2 is the next best thing. I’m talking about a 2D obstacle course-based motorbike game with detailed bikers and lovely parallax-filled backgrounds. And it’s hard as balls too, just like Trials.

The goal in Old School’s 40 levels is simply to reach the finish line, collecting all the coins you can along the way. But you’ll face numerous twists and turns, loops, pits, and other obstacles that threaten to knock your rider off his bike. Adjust his position with the left-right slider and work the gas, brake, and reverse pedals like mad in order to keep him in one piece and on the right track.

New to this sequel is the ability to morph the track at certain points. When the Windows Phone icon pops up above your racer’s head, shake the phone and the ground will raise, lower, or twist in order to create a new pathway for you to follow. It’s a fresh mechanic that opens up even more routes in the large and dangerous levels.

Other features include multiplayer (which unlocks a little later in the game), bikes to buy, and vehicle mods. Give it a download and prepare for lots of bruises and concussions!

• Old School Racer 2 – Windows Phone 8 – 43 MB – Free – Store Link

Royal Revolt 2

Although the original Royal Revolt was a single-player campaign-based game, Royal Revolt 2 is a multiplayer-oriented raiding game – much like Cloud Raiders. But the raids in this game play like the campaign levels of the original, meaning they’re all action with just a hint of strategy.

When attacking another player, your goal is to destroy as many of his or her defenses as possible, including the castle gate. The more damage your team does, the more gold you’ll steal from that player. Yes, you do command a squad of AI warriors in this game. But you also run around on the ground with them, hacking away at enemies and trying to stay alive. The battles are exciting and somewhat console-like, albeit with simple touch-screen controls.

The other side of the coin is defense! Each player gets to customize the path leading to his or her castle.  You can unlock and upgrade a variety of towers to guard the path, as well as customizing the waves of soldiers who will defend it. Again, the defense component is similar to other multiplayer raiding games. But with Royal Revolt’s unique gameplay, it still feels very fresh and natural.

As with the first game, Royal Revolt does suffer from difficulty issues stemming from its free-to-play nature. We’ll examine those and reveal some upcoming features that Flare Games has planned for the game in our review, which is coming very soon!

• Royal Revolt 2 – Windows Phone 8 – 239 MB – Free – Store Link
• Royal Revolt 2 – Windows 8 and RT – 241 MB – Free – Store Link

Bombcats SE

Radiangames is a one-man development studio that has just published several Windows Phone games in the last two months. According to the developer, the porting process has been mostly painless thanks to the Unity Engine. Good news for us, because his games are really good!

BombCats Special Edition is a physics puzzle game, sort of like Gerbil Physics (remember that one?) but even better. The story goes that a bunch of round little kittens have ended up trapped in magical cages. Thus it’s up to the larger cats (who have the power to explode at will) to save them. They’ll do so over the course of a whopping 194 levels of cat-blasting fun.

In each level, the goal is to launch your cat towards the caged kitty and blow up the cage, freeing it. You’ll do so by pulling back and launching your cat sling-shot style. Sometimes you’ll need to make the cat jump another time by pulling and launching again mid-flight, making the gameplay more dynamic than single-launch games. The cat automatically asplodes after flying through the air a bit, and it can also be detonated manually when needed.

Bombcats is a beautiful game, with way-too-cute cat designs, vibrant colors, and plentiful layers of parallax scrolling. Besides offering a ton of levels, it also has lots of Achievement-like goals to complete and tons of silly costume pieces to unlock for the kitties. Best of all, the game is FREE for a limited time only. After that, it will switch to a paid app (no in-app purchases!) so be sure to download it right now.

• Bombcats SE – Windows Phone 8 – 77 MB – Free (Limited Time Only) – Store Link

JoyJoy

Hey, another Radiangames title made the best of list in the same month! JoyJoy started life as an Xbox 360 indie game in 2010. The developer recently retooled the game for mobile and launched on all three major platforms simultaneously – again, very impressive for a new dev.

JoyJoy is a twin-stick shooter, something we don’t see much of on Windows Phone nowadays. Each level takes place within a rectangular arena, with swarms of enemies spawning on all sides. Think of it as similar to Geometry Wars, only without the neon vector graphics. Instead, the game has its own distinctive (and colorful) art style that perfectly fits the name “JoyJoy.”

It’s hard to imagine a mobile game with better twin-stick controls than this one. The ship’s movement and firing are extremely responsive. In fact, JoyJoy really puts Halo: Spartan Assault to shame. One guy working on his own churned out way more responsive controls than an entire team of developers – fancy that! Oh, and if you have trouble aiming and firing simultaneously, the ship automatically fires forward whenever you let off the firing stick.

The main game consists of 24 lengthy waves of enemies to eliminate. Every fourth wave is filled with crazy-large swarms of enemies. You only get a fixed number of lives per wave, but luckily the game can be restarted from checkpoint waves if you die or need to resume later. For extra variety, try the challenge mode and its unique timed levels. Both game modes offer several difficulty levels, so JoyJoy can be as FunFun or ToughTough as you like.

• JoyJoy – Windows Phone 8 – 45 MB – $1.99 – Store Link

I'm not one to cover many soccer oriented games (or football as my friends across the pond would say) but a tip came across the wire on a Windows Phone 8 game that caught my eye, Soccer Team Bus Battle - World Cup 2014.

The premise of the game has your rival team stealing the World Cup before the tournament and are escaping down the road in their team bus. You have to give chase in your team's bus in hopes of catching up to the culprits, force their bus off the road and rescue the trophy.

Soccer Team Bus Battle is definitely not your typical World Cup game and while the game has hope, it is plagued with annoying pop-up ads and a few performance issues.

Menus

Soccer Team Bus Battle's main menu offers options to start a game, visit the game's garage, view the tutorial page and swap out your buses nationality. The game has all thirty-two national team buses that compete in the World Cup.

The garage has customization options that you can buy with game money that you earn during game play. The customization options include:

• Change the buses Nationality (free)
• Add neon under-carriage lights
• Add a racing spoiler
• Customize the rims
• Add armor plating

The tutorial page will appear before every game and if you need a refresher look, you can access the tutorial page from the main menu as well. The page lays out the controls, screen layout and what each of the soccer balls represents that will be thrown at you during the chase (more on this in a second).

Game Play

Bus controls are simply laid out. Tap the left side of the screen to steer left, tap the right side to steer right. You also have a boost button in the bottom right corner of the screen that will give your bus a surge of speed.

Damage and boost meters are displayed across the bottom center of the screen. Gently sideswipes of other cars will cause your bus damage and if you sustain enough damage, the game is over. Head-on collisions should be avoided because it only takes one to end the game.

The goal is to catch your rival's bus and ram into it enough to force it off the road so you can get the World Cup trophy. You will need to weave in and out of the lanes of traffic to avoid other cars.

Throughout the chase, the rival bus will toss soccer balls at your bus. You can collect these balls for bonuses. The yellow ball represents coins that can be used in the garage, the green ball recharges your booster and the white ball heals any damage to your bus.

Steering controls were responsive and while at times it was difficult to see an oncoming car, that simply adds to the challenge of the game. The rival bus will snake in and out of traffic a little more efficient than your bus will so following that buses travel habits may land you sandwiched between cars.

Major Annoyance

While Soccer Team Bus Battle has decent game play and graphics, the biggest annoyance with the game is the full-page ads that pop-up after every screen transition. Go from the main menu to the garage and you get a full-page ad. Leave the garage and head back to the main menu, there is that full-page ad again.

I understand the importance of ad-supported games but the advertisement shouldn't beat you over the head and be more prominent than the game itself. I think a small ad banner running across the bottom of the menu pages would be less offensive and avoid detracting from the game itself.

Overall Impression

The more I ended up playing Soccer Team Bus Battle, the more the game began to grow on me. That is until the full-page ads popped up.

Graphics could have been a bit better but as is, they aren't terrible. The game concept is unique enough to catch your attention and game play is challenging enough to keep the game from growing stale too quickly.

There were a few stability issues that caused the game to crash periodically. The crashes weren't frequent enough to render the game useless but they were noticeable. The biggest frustration has to be the full-page ads that really interrupt the flow of the game and is just down right annoying.

Restructure the ad-support and improve the stability and Soccer Team Bus Battle has the potential of being a fun Windows Phone 8 game to pass the time with. As is, patience is the key but I can see many uninstalling the game after a few full-page ads pop-up.

• Soccer Team Bus Battle-World Cup 2014 - Windows Phone 8 - Free - Store Link

Microsoft has acquired the IP rights to one of the most acclaimed PC strategy games in recent history, Rise of Nations, and the leader of Microsoft's Xbox division is strongly hinting the company plans to release new games in the franchise.

Late on Friday, Microsoft's PlayXLBA website announced that not only had the company acquired Rise of Nations from its now shut down owners, Big Huge Games, but that it will re-release the original 2003 game on Steam. Rise of Nations: Extended Edition will be released sometime in June for $19.99 and will contain both the original game and its expansion pack Thrones and Patriots, along with enhanced graphics, full Steamworks support and more. Terms of the IP acquisition were not disclosed.

However, in two posts on his Twitter feed Saturday, Microsoft's Xbox leader Phil Spencer made statements that suggested the company was going to do more than just republish the older Rise of Nations games. Indeed, he seemed to hint that all new games in the franchise are planned.

Really happy with the #RON IP acquisition. We kept quiet for awhile on this. I game I worked on long ago, we'll do more with IP.

Steam is a great place to sell Win32 games. We acquired the IP for future work, I'm a big fan of the franchise. - Phil Spencer, Microsoft

Microsoft already has a listing on its careers page stating that they are forming a team to develop a "new AAA title within an established and well-loved strategy game franchise." Furthermore, Spencer stated in another Twitter post on May 18th that he saw a resurgence of the real time strategy genre coming for current generation consoles like the Xbox One. It's more than possible that Rise of Nations could be that strategy game series, based on Spencer's hints.

What do you guys think about the possibility of a new Rise of Nations game for the Xbox One?

Source: PlayXBLA, Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) (1, 2)

Yesterday, I counted a side-scrolling racer called Old School Racer 2 as one of the best games of May. That game started out pretty challenging, its beginning courses requiring lots of tries to navigate successfully. If you’ve played the Trials series, you know how tough (and fun) that sort of racer can be.

Today we check out a slightly easier 2D racer/driving game, this one from Owlchemy Labs. Snuggle Truck is a silly game in which players must deliver a load of stuffed animals to the zoo without dropping too many animals along the way. With great graphics, a sense of humor, and a robust level editor, this one is a pleasure to play. Check out our hands-on video after the break!

Make a run for the border… of the zoo

Snuggle Truck seems like a strange name for a game, until you delve deeper into this game’s origins. See, on Steam and Android Owlchemy offers a variation of the same game called Smuggle Truck. That version involves smuggling illegal aliens over the United States border in the back of a pickup truck. It’s a lighthearted version of an actual big (and strangely divisive) problem we have here in Texas.

Given that some people don’t think smuggling human cargo is funny, the developers cleverly spun off the game into the more mainstream Snuggle Truck. You still drive like crazy over hills, ramps, and other obstacles, but it’s stuffed animals that fly out when the truck hits a bump. Players can try to catch the errant animal in order to avoid losing it, but any plushie that hits the grounds is lost. Lose them all and you fail the level. The mechanic is fresh and sets Snuggle Truck apart from similar games like Dream Track Nation and Old School Racer.

Snuggle Truck’s controls are simple. Just tap the left side of the screen to brake or drive in reverse and the right side to move forward. Tilting the phone adjusts the angle of the vehicle – you don’ want to come down wrong from a crazy jump, do you?

Players can also grab power-ups such as a net that keeps the teddy bears and such from spilling out of the truck bed. Those can be activated by shaking the phone (no thank you) or double-tapping the screen. I do wish there was a restart button on-screen. Instead, you have to hit the phone’s Back button to pause and then choose to restart.

Lots of levels, including custom ones

Although the goal of each level is to reach the zoo at the end, levels also offer a bunch of fun side goals. The number of animals you complete a race with determines whether you get a bronze, silver, or gold medal for the level. Lose no more than one animal and you’ll get an Ark medal too. Finally, super fast completion times award Speed Run medals. Going back to secure more medals adds a fair bit of replay value.

If the built-in levels aren’t enough for you, you can always download some new ones or create your own. The level editor confused me for a moment but it’s very simple once you get the hang of it. Just drag and drop track shapes, making sure the guideline turns green, and they’ll automatically be worked into the track. You can add decorations, obstacles, and power-ups too. Then set the level times, save, and you’re good to go.

The buggy’s a bit buggy

Although Snuggle Truck offers a wealth of levels to play, selecting them is a big hassle right now thanks to an ugly bug. Players first have to select an environment, after which they can play the easy levels within that environment and go on to unlock harder ones. Scrolling through the list of levels and environments is super tough – it seems to get stuck after you scroll up. I've also had the game crash when loading one of my custom levels in the editor. Hopefully Owlchemy gets those bugs sorted out soon.

Save those snuggles

Level select bug aside, Snuggle Truck is an impressive Windows Phone debut title from Owlchemy Labs. The crazy concept, vibrant and colorful artwork, and the ability to make and share levels all make this one a great choice over more serious 2D racers. Grab Snuggle Truck and get those teddy bears to safety!

• Snuggle Truck – Windows Phone 8 – 21 MB - $1.99 – Store Link

Thanks to Omar Alvarezfor tipping us on the game!