| Cult of Mac

Wave Wave Goodbye To Your Sanity And Sense Of Competence [Review]

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Wave Wave

Wave Wave reminds me of the end of a story called “Blind Alleys” from an old Tales from the Crypt comic. It’s about the residents of a home for the blind seeking revenge on their unscrupulous caregiver by setting him loose in a maze lined with razor blades with a starving dog. He’s running from the beast, slashing himself to ribbons but still staying ahead, “And then some idiot turned out the lights.”

Wave Wave by Thomas Janson
Category: iOS Games
Works With: iPhone, iPad
Price: $2.99

Why does this twitchy arcade game remind me of that sadistic story? Because it hates me in the same way, starting me out at a disadvantage and then continuing to throw in sudden changes until I lose.

It’s a random, cruel, mechanical bull of a game, and you should absolutely play it.

Don’t Starve This Adorable Bunny In Eets Munchies [Review]

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Eets Munchies

I play a lot of games about getting one thing and maybe getting three other things along the way if I can (or feel like it). I just reviewed one Wednesday, in fact. But it’s a solid premise, and as long as getting all those things isn’t boring, developers can keep making them until everyone’s thumbs fall off.

Eets Munchies by Klei Entertainment
Category: iOS Games
Works With: iPad
Price: $2.99

Developer Klei Entertainment’s first mobile title, Eets Munchies, is another “one and maybe three” game, but it’s also a clever puzzle title that is equal parts Lemmings and Rube Goldberg. It’s the latest in Klei’s debut series, and it’s interesting to see the company go back to the cutes after its recent dalliances with hyperviolence in games like Shank and Mark of the Ninja.

Don’t let the adorable graphics fool you, though; once you really get into it, this game is to difficulty as cake is to delicious flavor.

Primal Flame: Play With Matches For Great Justice [Review]

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Primal Flame

Primal Flame is one of those games that’s immediately impressive. Its brief loading screen at startup is gorgeous, and the title screen presents the obligatory social-networking links in its own cave-drawing aesthetic so that they fit in while still remaining recognizable.

Primal Flame by Irrelevant Fish
Category: iOS Games
Works With: iPhone, iPad
Price: $2.99

But I’m not here just to talk about the title screen, luckily for you, and once you stop gawking at it and actually start Primal Flame up, it just keeps on being amazing.

You start with a black screen covered in specks with the sounds of a forest at night. Brighter lights start drifting down from the top, and you run your finger along the screen. Sparks fly and grow and burst into flame, and then you’re playing one of the most unique games I’ve ever seen.

The Walk Distracts You From Your Exercise With A Secret Agent Story

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The Walk

Are you tired of running from zombies, but looking for another way to distract yourself from boring yet obviously beneficial exercise?

The Walk–developed jointly by the UK’s National Health Service and Department of Health–has you walking the length of the UK while listening to an original story in which you’ll need to figure out why a bomb exploded in the tube station, evade hostile agents and the police, and discover how a mysterious package you’re given might save the world.

Card Wars: Adventure Time — Absolutely, You Can Floop The Pig [Review]

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Card Wars

Fans of Cartoon Network’s megahit Adventure Time are probably familiar with “Card Wars,” an episode in which heroes Finn and Jake square off in a ludicrously complicated collectible card game.

Card Wars: Adventure Time by Cartoon Network
Category: iOS Games
Works With: iPhone, iPad
Price: $3.99

If your first thought after seeing that installment was “I have to play that crazy-ass game,” you’re in luck: It’s now available for your iPhone or iPad. While not quite as complicated as the on-screen version, Card Wars offers the same basic card-and-board gameplay with 3D monsters battling it out for fortune and glory.

And behind its zany exterior lies a deceptively deep experience with Floops galore.

Eliss Infinity Improves Upon An Already Amazing Game [Review]

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Eliss Infinity

The original Eliss wowed everyone back in 2009 with its multitouch controls, cool music, and increasingly frantic gameplay. Now, we have Eliss Infinity, which includes the original game and a few more modes to keep even veteran players interested.

Eliss Infinity by Steph Thirion
Category: iOS Games
Works With: iPhone, iPad
Price: $2.99

Eliss is a puzzle/action/insanity game in which you have to manipulate the sizes of “planets” to make them fit inside of rings. You do this by combining smaller ones by dragging them into each other or splitting larger ones by pulling them apart with your thumbs. But differently colored planets can’t touch, or they’ll eat each other away.

That’s the basic idea. But Infinity has a lot more to offer.

In Fear I Trust Combines The Room With Spooky Ghosts [Review]

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In Fear I Trust

I’m a sucker for two kinds of mobile games: ones featuring improbably cute characters (preferably animals because they are more cuddly) and those that promise to scare the crap out of me.

In Fear I Trust by Black Wing Foundation
Category: iOS Games
Works With: iPhone, iPad
Price: $2.99

In Fear I Trust, a new horror title by developer Black Wing Foundation, falls under the second category, but this first bit is just the first two chapters of a longer story, so we can’t really write off cuddly animals completely yet. But it’s the story of a person who has survived insane and amoral experiments at the hands of crazy Russian scientists, so I’m not going to hold my breath.

So far, it’s a dark and gloomy experience with more puzzles than frights, but it still has a lot going for it.

Alpha 9 Is A Fine But Familiar Mix Of Boggle And Tetris [Review]

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Alpha 9

Fans of word games are always looking out for new apps that will let them arrange letters and clear blocks or cross things or whatever else people do when they’re using text as game pieces. Here’s another game that lets you do that.

Alpha 9 by Simorobo
Category: iOS Games
Works With: iPhone, iPad
Price: $1.99 (launch sale, reg. $2.99)

It’s called Alpha 9, and it’s basically Boggle plus Tetris. Your goal is to form words of at least three letters in order to clear lines from a board to keep the letter blocks dropping from the ceiling from piling up to the top of the screen.

That’s Wall Mode, anyway. It has another game type, but they’re both pretty average.

Lyne: A Stressful Game In Disguise [Review]

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Lyne

Apparently, I’m a sucker for minimalist puzzle games.

Lyne by Thomas Bowker
Category: iOS Games
Works With: iPhone, iPad
Price: $2.99

You can find a lot of them in the App Store, and I’ve reviewed more than a few since I’ve been here. I like the simplicity, the clean interface, the solid blocks of color … it’s all very relaxing. And then I play something like Lyne, a new puzzler that looks like those other zen games, but then you start playing it and realize that beneath its sparsely populated surface is a relentless battle for your sanity.

In a good way. Mostly.

Point, Click, And Run For Your Life In Abducted: Episode 1 [Review]

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Abducted

Episode One of developer Sunside’s six-part, hybrid adventure series is out now in the App Store, and it’s a promising start.

Abducted: Episode 1 by Sunside
Category: iOS Games
Works With: iPhone, iPad
Price: $2.99 (special launch price)

Abducted pulls from a variety of genres to build its sci-fi world and mechanics, including point-and-click (and text!) adventures, role-playing games, and even survival horror. It’s also a really good-looking game with an intriguing setting and enough mysteries to keep you moving on to see what’s next.

And if you have a device that can play it, you’ll enjoy it quite a lot.