Since the days of Tetris on the original Game Boy, puzzle games and handheld devices have gone hand in hand. With the App Store encouraging creative developers to come up with their own ideas for addicting brain-teasers, there are plenty of quality puzzle games out there for the iPhone and iPad. But these puzzlers are the cream of the crop. From new takes on familiar ideas to unique hybrids — these are the ten best puzzle games for iOS.
1. Bejeweled Blitz
In this uniquely cerebral game, colored orbs drop onto the board, each with a number on it. This number represents the number of other pieces adjacent to it in its row or column there must be for the piece to be eliminated — no more, no less. Recognizing how the whole playing field is operating and making moves with a purpose becomes key, as one poorly-placed piece could remain there for the duration of the game and bring the game one step closer to ending.
The player launches orbs onto a playing field, that then expand out until they hit a wall or another orb. A number is then added to the orb, signifying how many hits it will take for the orb to go away. If an orb ends up below the firing line, it's game over. Oh, and each orb has its own gravity. Careful shots are the name of the game here — learning how to shoot orbs that just float around other ones or carefully bounce off of them multiple times to eliminate them, making sure that a huge, field-filling orb doesn't wind forming.
Also available on iPad.
1. Bejeweled Blitz
PopCap's high-speed take on the Bejeweled formula is perfectly represented on iOS. One minute to match as many gems as possible means a lot of luck is required, but it's just crazy enough to stay exciting and interesting. The game uses Facebook to connect with the browser version of the game, bringing together achievements and friend leaderboards from across various platforms.
This game requires a different set of puzzle skills: creativity. Each level has a goal or star that must be collected by conjuring up items. By typing in the name of practically anything, with the ability to add adjectives, these items can be used to help solve the problems that levels cause, like trying to get a bull to hit a switch to open a gate, or trying to solve a zombie infestation. It requires far more thought than many action games, and has more action than most puzzle games.
This high-intensity match-3 game has an interesting twist. The board shrinks by one column or row for every three pieces that are dropped, making it imperative to eliminate pieces before the board disappears entirely. It gets wickedly tough in its later levels when there are many blocks to remove, and the drop rate increases dramatically. iPad owners can play the game with physical controls using the iCade.
4. Drop7
In this uniquely cerebral game, colored orbs drop onto the board, each with a number on it. This number represents the number of other pieces adjacent to it in its row or column there must be for the piece to be eliminated — no more, no less. Recognizing how the whole playing field is operating and making moves with a purpose becomes key, as one poorly-placed piece could remain there for the duration of the game and bring the game one step closer to ending.
5. Orbital
The player launches orbs onto a playing field, that then expand out until they hit a wall or another orb. A number is then added to the orb, signifying how many hits it will take for the orb to go away. If an orb ends up below the firing line, it's game over. Oh, and each orb has its own gravity. Careful shots are the name of the game here — learning how to shoot orbs that just float around other ones or carefully bounce off of them multiple times to eliminate them, making sure that a huge, field-filling orb doesn't wind forming.
Also available on iPad.
It starts off easily enough; match each animal that appears to the appropriate side. Then there are multiple animals on each side, the timer's ticking ever closer to zero and the game forces the player to try to sort out the mess of matches, quickly forming strategies for recognizing which side each animal should go on in an instant. This game makes my brain twist into pretzels, which is an impressive feat for a game where the concept consists only of animals being matched to one of two sides.
This game combines the line-forming of Tetris, the color matching of a match-3 game and word puzzles. Players form straight lines or match up three of the same color blocks to uncover the letters behind the tiles, then try to form words from adjacent letters. It gets very hectic to manage such different aspects of the game, requiring expert multitasking. It's the video game equivalent of chess boxing.
This match-3 game hearkens back to the days of challenging arcade puzzle games. Players pull down orbs from the playing field, then launch them back up, trying to match three at a time. The game picks up in pace quickly and starts to add more types of orbs to the board as time goes on. Thankfully, despite the fast pace, the controls are incredibly precise. Fans of multiplayer will enjoy the game's two-player modes available on a single iPad.
The title of this game quickly becomes literal, as players try to move tangram pieces around a board into various places. Multitouch becomes important to use here, as some pieces are more easily moved simultaneously. Timing often becomes involved in some of the levels, making this game particularly devious. It's great on the iPad, but perfectly playable on the iPhone.
This is a delightfully manic puzzler that combines color matching with Jenga. Players swipe different-colored condos left and right, trying to keep the stack from toppling over by feeding same-colored condos to the monsters on each side, and matching up three of the same color condo in the stack. The game gets a bit wacky, particularly with the crazy monster animations, a perfect fit for the [adult swim] brand.
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