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Puzzle platformers for the iOS are getting more and more interesting as time goes on. Cordy, Max and the Magic Marker, Cavorite, The Last Rocket, and more are very fine examples of puzzle platformers that offer pretty original gameplay. Sim Chia Tek’s new release, Silvester Adventure is the newest addition to this list of great games, giving you control over your character and his shadow, while trying to figure out how to make it through the game’s 31 levels.

As with other platformers, the controls are a big part of the game, but also, with other puzzle platformers, the controls do not need to be as precise or tight as action platformers controls need to be. But here, even though you’ll only start out with your left and right buttons, along with an action button, they work very well within the game. You’re also able to move the shadow world around by swiping anywhere on the screen. Once you get further into the game, you’ll be able to shrink and grow your shadow with buttons along the bottom of the screen. Another big part of platformers is the physics, and again, with puzzle platformers, the requirements are not as strict, but in Silvester Adventure, the physics are great, and make the gameplay feel comfortable and fluid.

In Silvester Adventure, you’ll need to guide your character while keeping an eye on your characters shadow. There are two parts to each level; the characters section, and the shadow section, which is almost always different from the main level, having different platforms, different switches, and different pathways. Your shadow will also need to stay within a certain distance from your character, or else you’ll need to start the level over. So keeping your shadow close to your character also becomes a mechanic of the game, and something that you’ll need to focus on consistently while trying to solve these puzzles. This is also where being able to swipe on the screen to move the shadow world around really comes in handy. You’ll be able to see the shadow world better, and maybe even see something you weren’t able to see before. The ability to shrink and grow your shadow comes along a little later, but once it does, it really opens up the gameplay, really showing off some fantastic level design and great puzzles that will keep you thinking about how to keep your shadow in the distance circle while making it through each of the levels obstacle areas.

The level design is extremely well done, which is always a great thing for a puzzle platformer. A lot of the levels are fairly short, but the puzzle elements, and the addition of the shadow world really expand the levels quite a bit. The level design and placement of the puzzles is something I was impressed with time and time again while playing through Silvester Adventure.

Being $0.99, even without GameCenter, virtually no replayabilty, and not having an HD version, it’s hard not to recommend Silvester Adventure to fans of the genre. It’ll provide quite a bit of gameplay that’s both challenging and entertaining. Sim Chia Tek has definitely created a puzzler that’ll keep you hooked until you complete it, and most likely will keep you on the look out for future releases from this developer.

10tons Ltd. is definitely not new to the AppStore. Their first iOS release, Rope Raider, showing up in the AppStore on November 4, 2009, was, even then, a prime example of what 10tons could do with the platform. Since then, 15 more releases have followed, each time, gaining more of a following, though it’s fairly safe to say that Sparkle the Game has been their most successful endeavor, it’s very clear that they know exactly what it takes to create a top notch game, appealing to both casual and hardcore gamers. Their latest release, Swingworm, is yet again, another prime example of that.

In the game, you’ll guide a worm named Swingy through an amazing 95 levels by grabbing either the front or back end of the worm, and swinging it from platform to platform, collecting the Rubbaberries that are scattered throughout the stages. Once you’ve collected all of the berries in a level, an elevator will activate, and take you to the next level. But it’s not as easy as it sounds. In order to reach most areas, you’ll need to figure out how to use the momentum of the worm while swinging so that either his head or end will attach to the leaves, which are pretty spread out, and it can sometimes pose a small challenge getting from one to the next. Each of the levels has a possible 3 star ranking, adding quite a bit of replay value to the game. To get a perfect 3 stars, you will need to complete the levels as fast as you can. There is a time limit bar shown in the top left corner, each time it fills up, a star is removed from your ranking. Once you complete the level, you’re shown the total time it took you to complete the level, and what time you’ll need to get the next best star ranking, which is very nice. I really wish all star ranking based on time games did this.

The graphics and animations done for Swingworm are top notch. The game is split in to Episodes, with the first having 10 levels, then Episodes 2-4 having 15, and 5-6 having 20, each Episode has a different environment, which also introduces new obsticles, objects, and hazards you can use, manipulate, or need to avoid. For instance, some levels have ice blocks you’ll need to swing into to break, others will have logs that rotate, which you’ll need to swing around on, gaining momentum to reach other platforms. All of the graphics are done in a cute cartoony way, reminiscent of Joining Hands, with the backgrounds filling in the holes of the levels perfectly, and the story breaks between the episodes, with Swingy talking to Big Bug helping round everything out. The animations for Swingy’s, enemies, and other character’s movement, objects breaking, Swingy attaching to objects, and collecting Rubbaberries is all very well done, allowing for the gameplay to flow very well, and come together in a near perfect harmony. To top it off, the cute and bouncy soundtrack, fitting the game to a ’T’ completes the atmosphere.

With GameCenter leaderboards for total Episode times on each of the 6 Episodes, and 14 achievements, the replayabilty is extremely high, and the drive to better your time is constantly looking you in the face. It’s arguable that Swingworm is 10tons best release since Sparkle the Game, bringing all of their knowledge of what it takes to make a top notch mix of casual and hardcore gameplay fit perfectly into an action puzzler. $2.99 is a great price for this Universal build, especially with the insane replay value, and incredible amount of content. Swingworm ends up being a game that’s extremely easy to recommend for gamers of all ages.

Anti-gravity platformer games are really un-explored territory when it comes to iOS games. Actually, I can’t really think of one title that has taken complete advantage of gravity mechanics. Until now. Inertia: Escape Velocity, developed by Red Fly Studio, could very well be the first iOS platformer game to seriously manipulate gravity, using the mechanics as the core of the game, and they pull it off perfectly. I guess it should be brought up that Red Fly Studio has built Inertia: Escape Velocity expanding on award-winning gameplay that won Best Non-Professional Game, Achievement in Gameplay, Technical Achievement, and Gamers’ Choice Awards at DICE’s Indie Game Challenge this year (2011).

You’ll guide a robot who has crash landed on a distant planet through 35 levels, collecting items that you can use to put your ship back together. The fun part? You can manipulate gravity, and use a ton of interesting objects to get you through hazards and around difficult corners of the levels.

Now to the core of the game; physics and controls. Control-wise, you’re given the standard platformer layout of left and right buttons, along with a jump and secondary use button. This secondary use button brings us to the physics, and is your inertia button. Pushing it creates a small gravity field around your character, allowing him to use his momentum to keep moving in whatever direction he’s going until you let go of the inertia button, or he hits an object, sending him in another direction depending on what way the object is facing. If you can’t already imagine, a development team that uses these controls and core mechanics to their full advantage would be able to come up with some extremely interesting situations for gamers to play through, and Red Fly Studio just so happens to be a development team that has done this. Throughout the levels, you’ll be able to interact with walls that slow you down, speed you up, or make you stick to them, while using the inertia button. There’s also gravity fields that push or pull you towards them, fan-like objects that throw you in the direction they’re facing, walls that you’ll need to be going a certain speed to break through, areas that look like moving particles that are generally used on the floors and ceilings, pushing you up and down, angled platforms, and electric fields that you’ll need to avoid all mixed in with these interactive objects.

Inertia: Escape Velocity is, to say the least, a huge game. The 35 levels all have 3 badges for you to earn, one for completion, one for picking up all of the bolts in the level, and another for finishing the level in a certain amount of time. Getting each one of these will require multiple playthroughs. Once you beat all 35 of the original stages, if you want more, you can purchase another 24 levels, each called the Inferno levels, which are the original levels, but set up like challenge levels, with increased difficulty, and different objects to use, more hazards, and a certain amount of big red bolts to collect so that you can open up the Mastery Levels, which are 5 of the hardest levels in the game, each also having the 3 badges to try and snag, all for $0.99. The original game is $1.99, so for all of the levels it’ll be $2.99. But if you decide not to buy the extra levels, the original 35+ levels will give you quite a bit of gameplay, taking about 4 hours to complete, not counting all the hours you can sink into them going back trying to grab all of the items and beating the level times. For the price, Inertia: Escape Velocity is an amazing game, and a definite must buy. It’s very quickly moved up to the #4 spot on my top 5 games of the year, making it incredibly easy to recommend to any and all platform and puzzle lovers.

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This is definitely something that should be on your radar. Wither Studios, a game development company founded in 2009, is creating what looks like a uniquely artistic iOS game.  Here’s the story behind Crowman & Wolfboy as put by Wither Studios, “Join this unlikely pair of Shadow Creatures, on an epic metaphysical journey to escape their own nature and find a greater meaning. You’ll flee the planet of shadows and travel across the universe itself, discovering amazing new worlds along the way.”
In terms of gameplay, C&W will be a mix of platformer and adventure. Controls seem pretty intuitive, with a slider bar for movement and swipe gestures for jumping and other actions. A unique feature in the game is that you actually control two characters – Crowman and Wolfboy – although they act as one. Both characters have their own unique attributes: Crowman can jump, glide, and dive, while Wolfboy can smash, dig, and climb. Both characters need to survive in order to complete the levels.

The art style of C&W is truly amazing. Artists at Wither Studios have created a whopping 15+ environments. As you progress through the game, environments will slowly become more and more detailed. You begin in a monochromatic, black and white landscape, but by the end of the game you will be running through vivid, color-filled worlds. All of this goes to create a fantastic experience and it is hard to believe that this game is really for iOS.
Wither Studios has a Kickstarter fund going here, so before you do anything else make sure and jump over there and gives these guys a kick (get it?).  There are also several videos covering W&C’s progress. Here’s one of some alpha-gameplay because I know you are all dying to see how this baby actually plays.

Wither Studios is hoping to put Crowman and Wolfboy through beta testing this December, and if all goes well, this amazing piece of art should be in our hands in early 2012. Stay tuned for more info.

Platformers are anything but a rarity in the AppStore these days. About a year ago, that was not the case. Fans of the genre have been flooded with platform after platform game, and couldn’t be more happy with most of them, even though the very unique and original plat former is still kind of hard to find. Luckily, there are still developers out there with quite a bit of imagination and skill. Grass Fed Games is new the AppStore, but their first iOS title, Run, Jump, Kill, is one that platform fans should definitely check out.

You’ll play as the king of a kingdom that has been ravaged while your brother, Lord Locke, was put in charge for your vacation. Your loyal subjects are no-where to be found, there’s hordes of crazy monsters running around, and your trusted friend Follo is the only one who can help guide you to your brother so you can find out what all has happened. It’s a hack-n-slash platformer fest that’s incredibly enjoyable. While it lasts.

The levels, while designed fairly well, are lacking. There are springs, but they’re really linear, which is a shame, because hidden areas, and some exploration would fit within the game so perfectly, it would be borderline magical. But while you’re playing, you will be constantly wanting to know what’s coming next, what the next boss will look like, and what you’ll have to do to kill him, Run, Jump, Kill is a very hard game to put down.

For $0.99, Run, Jump, Kill is a decent hack-n-slash platform game that while it doesn’t give you loads of content, it is very satisfying to play. It would do well to add GameCenter support, with a leaderboard and achievements, to help with the drive, and add some replay value to the game though. But what makes the entire game even more impressive is that it’s all made with GameSalad. Usually, I’m the first one to turn my head right when that word is uttered, but with Run, Jump, Kill, I wasn’t really completely sure that it was made with GameSalad until I asked the developer. There is the typical GameCenter loading circle in the corner, but aside from that, this is unlike any other GS game I’ve ever played. Nice physics, great controls that are responsive and work very well, no lag or framerate issues, incredible graphics, and the game is just a blast. Hopefully we’ll see more added to the game with future updates, but I, for one, will be watching Grass Fed Games very closely from here on out.

Run, Jump, Kill gets a score of 3 out of 5.

I don’t know what it is, but seeing cute little animals get butchered in video games is something I find extremely entertaining. There’s aren’t too many games on the AppStore that feed this little guilty pleasure of mine, but when they do come around, I enjoy them as much as I can, which is probably a little too much. When I saw the trailer for Bunny Reaper, developed by Assyria Studios (The Glowing Void, Future Racer, and more) with help from artist Molly Proffitt, and published by Daily App Dream, I couldn’t stop laughing. A platformer that had you play death, and go around and kill cute little bunnies. The gaming gods have heard my prayers yet again.

In Bunny Reaper, you’ll control a little Grim Reaper, who has the job of taking little bunnies when their time has come, and then making it to his underworld portal safely so he can move on, doing his job again and again. You’re given platform controls, left and right buttons on the left, and jump and attack buttons on the right. There’s also a zoom out button in the top right, which lets you see the entire level. You can also move your character when you’re zoomed out, which comes in handy quite a bit. To make things a little more interesting, you are able to turn back time. But, you can only do this after you fall off of a platform. A clock icon will show up at the top of the screen, and holding it down will send you back in time, so that you can reverse yourself back up to the platform that you fell from. This does add quite a bit of interesting gameplay to Bunny Reaper, but also takes away a lot of the challenge. Knowing that you can just tap a button to place yourself back up at the top of a level, instead of having to climb all the way up again takes away the pressure of needing to nail your jumps.

The graphics in Bunny Reaper are done in a silhouette styling. The backgrounds change color as you move on through level groups of 10, and always have clouds floating around. There are some levels with snow, which looks pretty nice, and adds to the atmosphere of the world, as does the extra environmental growths on the second world’s platforms. Each world has enough of a different look to give the game just enough variety so it won’t get boring. However, there are only 2 enemies that you’ll face, and one of them, the bunnies, can not hurt you. The other, heart monsters, are kind of like snapping plants. Seeing more enemies in a future update would be great. The animations are very well done though, and are a big part of the entertainment in the game. When you kill a rabbit, it will essentially explode, sending blood EVERYWHERE, even raining down on your character, and have the soul of the rabbit fly upward. The heart monsters shoot out green goo when you slice them in half, which looks pretty neat. It would be perfect if the bottom part of the reaper’s outfit moved more while you were jumping, but that’s just me being picky.

Bunny Reaper is $0.99, which gives you the first 20 levels. The last 20 levels can be unlocked with an in app purchase of $0.99, so the full game is about $2. It is supported with GameCenter, and has 57 achievements, but no leader board, and a lot of the achievements are “finish level 1” “finish level 2” and so on, so there’s not a whole lot of replay value to be gained from the GameCenter integration. And though the game is fairly violent, it’s also very simple. The first 20 levels will give you about an hours worth of gameplay. There is a puzzle element, with trying to figure out how to reach each level’s exit, but zooming out once or twice will give you the answer pretty much right away. For it’s price, I’m personally very entertained, and also very impressed with the developers interaction with gamers on the Touch Arcade forums, which counts for quite a bit in my book. If you’re looking for a fairly gory, just plain fun to play game, Bunny Reaper is probably just up your ally. But if you’re looking for a game with substance, and don’t have much of a sense of humor, or hate seeing video game violence towards virtual animals, chances are, you won’t like this game at all. It seems more like a game my daughter would take to school and show off to her friends, while hoping to make her other classmates think she’s weirder than she really is. But then again, I had those days back in high school too.

Bunny Reaper gets a score of 3 out of 5.

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Evertales is the newest game from Crescent Moon Games, an influential gaming studio that emphasizes collaboration, innovation and unique ideas. They have had several previous forays into the RPG market such as Aralon: Sword and Shadow, Pocket RPG, Ravensword and many others. But in this new mix of the typical formula they have toned down the rpg aspect and turned Evertales into more of a sidescrolling platformer.

As mentioned before you are constantly moving right trying to get to the end of each chapter. Enemies are of course trying to kill you and have various ways of trying to do so. You can pick and choose from three different characters to handle each scenario while in the level.  This can be very useful because it allows you to approach each situation differently. Say you have a drunken dwarf throwing bottles of alchol at you.  You could choose to rush him with the Knight character and potentially risk losing some life or you could use the Archer or the Wizard, both long range specialists to pick em off from a distance.  These different characters allow many different puzzle elements to be worked into the game. For example the knight can barely jump because of his armor, the elf can double jump to reach high areas and the wizard can glide to hard to reach places with his cloak. Combined with the enemies different strengths and attack patterns you will have to be alert to pass through the level safely. Plus there is a gigantic boss fight at the end of each chapter which is always worth looking forward to.

  Once you finish a chapter, you can change your characters armor, buy new weapons or choose to upgrade them instead with “Evercoins”  These “Evercoins” are usually spread across the level in hard to reach places and can be a challenge to collect all of them. You can also choose to buy them through IAP. Though it doesnt feel necessary to buy the IAP the minimal amount of coins you get per level are hardly enough to upgrade a weapon or two. This can be solved by replaying the levels a few times to rack up enough Evercoins.  The graphics are as usual, superbly done and the sounds are just as good.  Controls can feel a bit spotty sometimes but they get the job done.

With only 9 chapters I managed to blow through the game in about two hours.  Even though the actual experience felt great I feel they should have spent more time working on the gameplay and adding new and intruiging puzzle aspects.  Its definitely not a bad game and I recommend you pick it up but to me it feels like something is missing that would make this a truly outstanding game.  I give it a 4/5. (Currently on a intro sale for 0.99)

It’s always upsetting when an independent developer’s amazing game doesn’t sell well enough to even recoup the money that was put into the making of the game. Even worse when it’s a solo developer, and their first game, making them think it’s not worth-while to continue making iOS games. The first time I ever really cared about this happening was with an amazing platformer that goes by the name of Miss Claire Garden, developed in 14 months by the amazingly talented Chris Neveu.

Released in January of this year, a lot of people were put off by the speed of movement for the character, Claire. This initially cause a lot of people to look the other way, figuring it wasn’t worth getting. Other gamers have said that the childish name didn’t help either. For me, I held off the first couple of days because the developer, Chris N., said that there were not going to be any updates for the game. But after watching the video up on YouTube, and sleeping on it, I couldn’t stop thinking about the game. Having a Mario 2 like platformer on my iDevice was something I just couldn’t pass up, future updates or not.

The graphics, gameplay, music, story, animations, the slight metroidvania type setup of the game, with players needing to grab specific power-ups in levels to go back to previously beaten levels and reach areas that were previously unreachable, the Mario 2 influenced gameplay, being able to pick up enemies, and throw them at other enemies, or carry them across the screen, placing them in a spot that gave you the opportunity to reach an unreachable area, being able to use blocks with the same reach unreachable areas effect, the insanely great level design. Miss Claire Garden went above and beyond the typical iOS platformer gameplay that iPod gamers were use to, and is still considered to be one of the very best platform games by the very few gamers that own the title.

And yet, the game is still a hidden gem, almost a full year after it’s release, the game still only has 9 ratings in the US AppStore, and Chris Neveu still has yet to make back the money that went into making the game. With it being $0.99, having 24 levels, 72 available flowers to collect, 3 in each level, collected by finishing the level, grabbing the (usually) hidden bird, and collecting 50 or more flowers in the level, adding an insanely addictive challenge to the game, and still, with all the platformers released since Miss Claire Garden’s release in mid-January, 2011, in my top 3 favorite iOS platform games, it’s an amazing deal that every fan of old-school, Mario, platform, adventure, or just amazingly great games should check out. A version 1.3 trailer was just uploaded to YouTube last month (and can be viewed below), and Chris Neveu is currently working on another game, though it’s not been said what platform it will be released for, and no info other than Mr. Neveu saying that he’s working on something in his freetime has been given out, but rest assured, after playing Miss Claire Garden, just knowing that Chris Neveu is working on another game will bring a big smile to your face.

Miss Claire Garden gets a score of 10 our of 10, and is HIGHLY recommended.

Endless Runner based level games are starting to grab a group of fans. Fatcat Rush, Mirror’s Edge, Run Fox Run, Brain In Jar, Bouncing Penguin, DoDo Fly, 1-Bit Ninja, these titles will usually upset platformer fans because, well, they’re not platformers, and cause endless runner fans to scream “those are not endless runners!”, but whether you love or hate these types of games, you can’t deny that there are gamers that thoroughly enjoy games like these, and that there are more and more of them popping up as more and more gamers get hooked by their gameplay. I, for one, and a big fan of these types of games. Maybe it’s because my favorite genre of games is platformers, and I enjoy endless runners quite a bit. Maybe it’s because they’re perfect for playing while sitting in the bathroom, who knows? Whatever the case may be, a new title has emerged, and is ready to be conquered by gamers everywhere. Zombie Parkour Runner, developed by Break Media, is the newest addition to the endless runner/platformer mesh genre.

You’ll control Kara while she jumps, zips, climbs, swings, wall-runs, and kicks some zombie butt trying to get her stolen cat back. There’s 24 levels of smooth playing parkour running that you’ll control simply by tapping on the screen. A quick tap will give you a short jump, while holding your finger on the screen will give you a long jump, then timely taps on the screen when a white silhouette of your character appears will cause you to do specific parkour tricks and spiffy zombie attacks while running through each level.

Making it through all 24 levels won’t take a lot of gamers too long, but making it through all 24 levels with a 3 star ranking and grabbing the special item in each level should take more than a little while, as should finding all the hidden areas and unlockable levels. There’s also a GameCenter leaderboard for each level, along with a board for the best score in a level, and 39 achievements, all adding immensely to the high replay-value. It would be nice to see a shop where we could unlock more characters, or different outfits, maybe give all those coins another purpose besides adding to the high-scores of players, and give those gamers out there that are not obsessed with high-scores something to aim for.

If you’re a fan of the genre, Zombie Parkour Runner is a game that’s definitely worth checking out. The addition of the Parkour moves, running on billboards, swinging off of poles, going down ziplines, and more adds quite a bit to the gameplay, as do the different zombies and zombie attacks. Priced at $0.99 for the iPhone version, and $2.99 for the iPad version, it’s a great buy, and a great game that will give you hours upon hours of entertainment.

Zombie Parkour Runner gets a score of 4 out of 5.

Platformers for the iOS have really started booming since the extremely successful release of League Of Evil. However, as much as I love platformers, it’s not too often fans of the genre can find a game that brings something new to the table, as the AppStore is getting over-run with “retro” platforming games. Thankfully, there are a couple developers out there that know that it’ll take more than a platform game with retro graphics to really stand out, and Ablemagic’s SpinTrip, published by Clickgamer/Chillingo just so happens to be one of those stand out titles.

You’ll guide a little ‘tisu, male or female (though your choice doesn’t effect the gameplay), through the magical world of Canoo. The evil Gnats have stolen a wise sage’s Shims, and you’ll need to use the power of the Chibs to get them all back. What does that mean in an understandable language? You’ll roll your character around the levels, collecting other characters that lend you their powers so that you can reach previously un-reachable areas to collect as many items as you can while trying to make it to the end of each level.

As for the controls, graphics, physics, and on a more forgiving note, the animations, everything is top notch. The physics do take some getting use to, but once you become comfortable with the idea that you’re rolling your character through the levels, not making them run through each level, it gets very easy to become accustomed to. The controls, set up like your typical virtual controlled iOS platformer, left and right buttons, along with a jump button, work extremely well. Each Chib that you pick up highlights an icon at the top of the screen, and on an iPad, are found around your basic left/right and jump/ability controls. When you want to use that Chib, you click on the icon, which makes them available for use, then tap the icon next to your jump button to activate that Chib. There are three different environments that you’ll progress through, each with it’s own distinctive look, and environmental feel, and along with the perfect animations, helps add to a very smooth, and highly enjoyable gaming experience.

SpinTrip is supported by Crystal for online leaderboards, which Chillingo seems to be using more and more, but it’s also supported by GameCenter, having 2 different boards, one for your Highscore and one for your Awesomeness score, along with 4 basic “find this many” achievements, and one hidden achievement. Each of the 16 levels has a 3 star ranking you can try and snag, but sadly, your star ranking is not shown on the level select screen, so finding those one or two levels that you only got 2 stars on is almost impossible. As always with new gameplay mechanics, there will always be people that wish the game just played like a regular old platformer game, so SpinTrip will not be favored by everyone, especially if you don’t like the idea of only being able to use one ability at a time, and having to collect that ability while going through levels, while having the number of times you can use that ability re-set with each level. But if you’re looking for something new a platform game, and either sick of, or have enough run/jump/goal platformers, SpinTrip is definitely a game worth your time. The game is only $0.99, and Universal, so if you’re still not sure, it’s not going to break the bank if you decide to check it out. It certainly has the potential to become one of your favorite iOS platformers.

SpinTrip gets a score of 4 out of 5.