Mobile Games Roundup

Rise of Glory

• Windows Phone 7 - £2.49

Not for the first time this month, Microsoft has dangled a cheque under the noses of a proven mobile developer and tasked them with essentially reskinning an existing hit.

Last week we took a peek at Revolution, a barely-different version of Geared, and this week it's Revo Solutions' turn, with Rise of Glory not enormously different to the studio's rather decent flight combat effort, Skies of Glory.

Both do a nice line in tilt-based aerial dogfighting. Both sure look purdy, run with the kind of smoothness we take for granted these days, have very similar HUDs and expect us to chase down targets and blast things to bits. It's by-the-numbers stuff, obviously, but you can't help but be drawn in by the excellent controls. They really lend themselves to this sort of thing.

It's a shame, then, that Rise Of Glory features missions designed by some kind of manic sadist. One example has you swooping low to destroy a train... only to follow up that hair-tearing exercise with yet another train. Sod. Off.

To add to the insult, ROG features none of the Bluetooth multiplayer or eight-player Wi-Fi dogfighting that came as standard with SOG. This only rapidly leads me to the conclusion that for £2.49, they can BOG off.

4/10

X Construction

• Android - Free trial (paid-for version under construction)

The more attentive may recall that I rather enjoyed PSN bridge-builder Elefunk, and pretty much proposed last week to World of Goo. It appears that I rather enjoy piecing together structures. Who knew?

So it won't come as any great shock that I came over all unnecessary when a close acquaintance pointed me in the direction of Cross Construction's silly old bridge-builder.

Like Pontifex, or any of these other games of its ilk, you're given a limited pile of girders and it's up to you to plonk them down as a bridge so that foolhardy creatures can cross a perilous gap.

In this case, your guinea pig is a train full of passengers, who remain blissfully unaware of your lack of engineering prowess – that is, until your creation bends, buckles, and swiftly sends them shrieking to their doom. The appalling racket of 478 terrified souls perishing inside your smartphone ought to provide enough of an incentive to get it right.

As matters progress, it becomes tougher to save these tormented individuals from their fate. You'll likely agonise over the precarious placement of each piece, wondering aloud whether it matters if it's a bit bouncy in the middle.

In summary, it's horribly addictive. Unfortunately, it seems that Mr Developer hasn't quite gotten around to releasing a paid-for version yet, so for now enjoy this curiously compelling and slightly fiddly six-level trial offering.

7/10