Download Games Roundup
Dodo! Sneezies! Edge! Rush! Miasma!
DodoGo! Challenge
- DSiWare - 500 DSiWare points (£4.50)
The chances are that you didn't even notice Neko Entertainment's rather loveable egg-rescuing original back in April. That's OK. The talented Frenchmen didn't take your inexplicable snub personally, they just released a quick-fire follow-up and hoped that people like me would rave about it all over again.
Now, as then, the general gist is to save a bunch of eggs from being turned into a tasty snack, and guide them Lemming-style to a nearby goal. Standing between the eggs and their safe haven are innumerable sentries, traps and other spiteful hazards, so you have to plot their path carefully, using a limited number of helpful tools.
Given their inability to spot danger, once you set them on their way, they'll just roll along haplessly until they reach a wall, so it's up to you to place springs to bounce them across gaps, platforms to cushion the fall, and get patrolling creatures out of harm's way.
In the original, this was all lovingly explained as you went along, with helpful tutorials interspersed to introduce new gadgets and techniques. Sadly, in this 'challenge' version, the game assumes you're already up to speed and rather dumps you in the deep end.
Even if, like me, you've played a fair chunk of the original, you'll probably have forgotten most of it by now, necessitating a complete run-through of the massive tutorial. Ridiculously, the game fails to even mention where the tutorial is, requiring you to exit the game and poke around in the options menu to refresh your ailing memory.
Assuming you've got the patience for all that faffing around, the game itself does exactly what it purports to, with around a hundred new levels offering a lengthy challenge for those hungering for some more eggy entertainment. As before, it's satisfying, exacting and well-designed puzzling – but if you missed out on the original, go for that first, before this initially befuddling sequel.
7/10
Miasma
- Xbox Live Indie - 400 Microsoft Points (£3.40)
Few indie developers have the balls to charge more than pennies for their labours, no matter how polished the end result, but ESP's surprisingly engaging effort is still worth a second glance.
Set in a dystopian future where sinister corporations have wrested control of the planet, you control a trio of rebels determined to put the world to rights through the power of turn-based strategy.
As anyone who has played Advance Wars or Final Fantasy Tactics will attest, that power is pretty all-consuming once you surrender to its whims, even if it looks a bit plodding from the outset.
True to form, your team of futuristic warriors can move a set number of spaces each turn and have a stock of Action Points with which to perform combat, healing and special moves. Each level gives you an exit point to reach, throws a bunch of grunts in the way, and lets you get on with it.
As it's an RPG-flavoured game, you'll get some regulation sci-fi fluff to consume as a reward for progress, and find out just why certain members of the team can't remember how they got there. When all that's over with, you'll get the chance to upgrade your squad and then road-test their new abilities with another set of mechs and soldiers.
If you and your downtrodden buddies have ever felt compelled to attack mega corporations with heavy weaponry, this is probably the most responsible way of going about it. Or you could just dance your cares away like the rest of us.
7/10