THREE OF THE BEST
SUPERBROTHERS: SWORD AND SWORCERRY
Sword and Sworcery (sic) is a point and click with a difference. This ever-so-clever Canadian game is part homage to point-and-clicks of yesteryear, part musical social experiment. Most of the puzzles are sound-based, with the player having to respond to the beautifully crafted soundtrack. The game will often prompt you to share your experiences on Twitter and search for solutions from fellow players. A great example of innovative iPad integration.
SOLIPSKIER
This skiing game is pure simplicity. Holding your finger on the iPad’s screen draws snow under your heavy metal-loving character. Swiping up or down creates jumps. Direct your skier through gates and avoid obstacles. The more gates you hit and tricks you pull off (by taking your finger off the screen), the higher the score and the faster he goes. This will have you hooked for weeks.
MACHINARIUM
This Czech-developed point-and-click was first released in 2009 but has recently found its home on the iPad 2. The puzzles are fiendishly hard but the biggest attraction is the hand-drawn, scrap yard-esque robot planet your mechanical protagonist (left) lives on. There is a vague plot but the real fun is exploring the environment, which your stretchy, decidedly old-school robot must tear pieces off to progress. It’s cute in the way Wall-E is cute – a landmark in its genre.