Campfire Cooking By: Layton Hawkes Layton Hawkes got my attention with his first game, Puzzlepops!, an ingenious puzzler that features seemingly innocent candy that you push along tracks to goals. It was the perfect one-handed game, and I had very little to complain about. So I was thrilled when the sequel released with a Halloween theme and even trickier puzzles. Now Layton's back with a new game that still centers around sweets…
If I got a dime every time someone told me to play Stephen Lavelle's puzzle game, Stephen's Sausage Roll, I'd have...about a dollar? But seriously, people keep recommending it and I keep responding "but it's not on iOS." There are some shorter narrative games I've played on my PC over the last few years, such as The Stanley Parable. But I have so many games on my iPad and iPhone and there's…
This is only the second year I'm listing my Games of the Year, and 2016 was an incredibly strong one for iOS games. It was hard getting this list down to just ten or fifteen games, so I also have some runners-up. There were just too many great games this year! So, without further ado, I represent my GOTY 2016 list! Any reviews I wrote are linked to the name of each…
Welcome to the third installment of my new weekly post called My Week Unwrapped, where I talk about the games I've been playing this past week. There aren't too many games to go over this time, but the lack of quantity is made up with quality! First off, I played through the deliciously creepy Rusty Lake: Roots by the developers of the Cube Escape and Rusty Lake series. Although I haven't finished…
Welcome back to the second installment of My Week Unwrapped, where I discuss all the games I've been playing over the past week. I've been sick with a nasty cold, so it wasn't quite as busy as last week's, but I still spent a lot of time playing! First off, I dropped everything to play and finish Layton Hawkes' fantastic Halloween puzzler, Puzzlepops! Trick or Treat. The original was one of my…
Puzzlepops! Trick or Treat By: Layton Hawkes Puzzlepops! was one of my favorite puzzle games this year, so when developer Layton Hawkes sent me an advanced copy of the Halloween-themed sequel, Puzzlepops! Trick or Treat, I dropped every other game I was playing to dig in. Even though I had plenty of other games I was enjoying, for two days I played nothing else until I completed it. I suggest reading my…
Puzzlepops! Trick or Treat By: Layton Hawkes Update: The game is now out! The title of Layton Hawkes' latest puzzle game might be slightly misleading, as Puzzlepops! Trick or Treat doesn't make you choose between the two. It's a Halloween-themed sequel to one of my favorite puzzlers, Puzzlepops!. It features all types of sweets -- including candy corn, candy bats, wax vampire lips, and eyeball jawbreakers -- and is often quite tricky.…
Puzzlepops! Bu: Layton Hawkes Lately I've been considering making a list of games and developers that respect their players. It hasn't happened yet, but Puzzlepops! (along with Go to Gold) would be near the very top of the list. It might not be the most gorgeous game, but creator Layton Hawkes took all the right steps to make this puzzle game both mentally challenging and user-friendly. Although it's been out for about…