A new gameplay trailer for Mojo Bones’ latest release, The Curse, has been released.

The guys at Mojo Bones, previously famous for cutesy dog-based puzzle game, Tongue Tied! have been busy working away at The Curse since releasing the first teaser trailer in February.

I was fortunate enough to get a hands on preview of The Curse and things are shaping up to look pretty great. 100 puzzles will be available to the player, with a creepy nemesis by the name of Mannequin linking everything together.

Puzzles are a varied bunch. While some puzzles will require players to piece together complex jigsaw pieces, others require careful lateral thinking to slide blocks together or draw a set number of lines to block off certain sections. Word based puzzles also feature with plenty of riddles to confound the old gray matter. The bite sized nature of these puzzles lend themselves perfectly to the iOS format and it’s a great sign of how quickly ‘just one more puzzle’ turns into another half a dozen.

Don’t expect an easy ride, though – there are some real brainteasers within the selection and The Curse should prove quite an enjoyable challenge to puzzle fans.

The Curse is set for release this summer. Expect a full review on 148apps when it hits the App Store.

I can’t help but wonder; once mankind has branched out into space and begun to colonize new worlds and so on, would they really call them “Space Pirates?” I mean, they’re already in space. Space is kind of where everyone goes now. Why not just call them “Pirates?” But I’m getting (way) off-subject here. I’m not supposed to be discussing possible semantics for situations I’ll never encounter in the far future, I’m supposed to be talking about e3D: SpaceShip, a new “Escape” game from Bored.com.

After getting boarded and captured by these pirates who frequent space, players have to escape (duh) and take the ship back. The game follows the expected formula of finding objects, occasionally combining these objects and using them to solve all manner of puzzles. In space. Additionally, extra collectibles can be found and completion times are posted to Game Center. And who doesn’t love a good speed run or collectible hunt?

Anyone with even an ounce of interest in puzzle-solving or Escape-themed games can download e3D: SpaceShip right this very moment. It’s even free!

FREE!

e3D: SpaceShip

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-10-07 :: Category: Games

Chuck’s Challenge is a game about a guy (Chuck) who’s been kidnapped by a purple alien monkey-thing (Woop) and forced to create “games” for it to “play” because it’s bored. I think. It’s essentially a follow-up to Chip’s Challenge, with the original game’s creator, Chuck Sommerville, acting as both the designer and main character.

Niffler may have carried over a good deal of concepts from the older title, but the most significant aspect is the community integration. Sure, Chuck’s Challenge features 100 levels, about a quarter of which are free (the rest can be bought through in-app purchases), but the real draw is the ability for users to create and share their own. In a way the concept’s not all that dissimilar from Media Molecule and their community-centric platformer, LittleBigPlanet.

Level editors and sharing aren’t new ideas, even on iOS, but they’re very rarely incorporated as lovingly as they are with Chuck’s Challenge. Heck, the entire game is essentially designed and built around the concept of creating and sharing levels among the community. I kind of wish more games, both on the App Store and just in general, would think about doing things like this more often.

Chuck’s Challenge is available right now for absolutely nothing. Check it out, maybe?

FREE!

Chuck's Challenge

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2010-12-16 :: Category: Games