When Sony unveiled the NGP and talked about its PlayStation Suite initiative for the first time earlier last week, you may remember that the publisher didn’t use the magical word “exclusive” when describing the PSS’ connection to Android. That was a deliberate move so it could keep the communication and creative channels open -- a point that SCE CEO Kaz “Ridge Racer” Hirai talked around in a roundtable discussion after the event.

"We have a completely open stance. With carriers and with hand set makers,” Hirai said according to Andriasang.com. "There are a variety of OSes,” he said. “But we're focusing first on Android. There's also Windows, iOS and so forth, but we don't have the resources to make it compatible with everything from the start."

This is the NGP, FYI.

We speculated that Sony could bring PSS to iOS, and while this isn’t anywhere near a confirmation, we’re more aware now that Sony is willing to, at least, entertain the idea of doing so. But there are a few stumbling blocks.

First, all games that go through PSS will be certified by Sony and funneled through its own closed system, presumably similar to iTunes in theory. Apple, of course, already certifies its own stuff and has its own digital delivery system. I can’t see Apple being fans of having a system on top of a system, so that’s block one.

Block two is that devices that will use PSS will need to be PlayStation Certified. There are a billion Android handsets out there, so this helps Sony keep the amount of SKUs it needs to certify games for down (probably way, way down). It also gives Sony a measure of control over what needs to be on a phone. I can’t see Apple playing ball with this either. Can you imagine a flip iPhone or iPod Touch that has a PlayStation d-pad? Yeah, me neither.

Still, this is interesting to hear from Hirai and we’ll no doubt keep our eyes on this initiative as it blossoms into a beautiful flower. A lot of you, including me, don’t think PSS will ever come to the iOS, but hey, we live in a world where a lot of crazier stuff has happened. Can you believe that, like, 300 Spartans kept an entire army at bay for a couple of days? Insane!

So, a new version of PAC-MAN is coming to the four or so remaining arcades in North America. This latest romp, created by the ever-talented hands over at Namco, is called PAC-MAN Battle Royale [Free]. It's essentially a competitive PAC-MAN title that has you and up to four other players devouring pellets, ghosts, and eventually each other on the same, neon-infused board.

I bring this up because Namco has busted out a free app version of the game for the iPad in an attempt, obviously, to get us acquainted with the new PAC-MAN property and hopefully herd us to an arcade that actually has the title. The demo, unfortunately, is a one-level joint and forces a second player -- there's no AI companion, meaning you'll need to find a pal (or pals) to become the second (or third or fourth) PAC-MAN.

According to a representative on the game's Facebook page -- which just so happens to be the place the game steers you to after you finish the demo app -- PAC-MAN Battle Royale will “be available in the NW Suburbs of Chicago soon” and has appeared in the NW Suburbs like Elk Grove Village, Roselle, South Elgin, and Skokie. An iPhone app is coming the future to help you track it down from wherever you are in the world.

Did you check it out yet? Dude. Do it. PAC-MAN is coming back, son. Believe.

[via Joystiq]

Last June at WWDC, we spent some hands-on time with the then upcoming Alien Space from indie developer Owens Rodriguez. We really enjoyed the title even in its work-in-progress state, and were looking forward to its release later in the year. Then this past October, Alien Space [99¢/Lite] finally launched a bit later than Owens had anticipated and it somehow slipped under our radar, though it has been highly praised by the members in our forums (nothing gets by them).

I’ve since spent a good amount of time with Alien Space, and can confirm that it is an incredibly solid dual-stick shooter. It features a 30 level campaign, a Survival mode, a suite of upgradeable weaponry, and incredibly intelligent enemy AI which makes for some frantic space battling. The real standout feature though is the absolutely spot-on controls that rival any of the other top dual-stick shooters in the App Store in terms of responsiveness. All of these factors combine in Alien Space to make for a great gaming experience.

At Macworld this year, I once again met up with Owens to discuss his current project which is an alternate version of Alien Space. This upcoming separate game will be a retro re-skin of sorts to the original game, though with at least one brand new game mode in addition to the Campaign and Survival modes.

Owens told me that he was a huge fan of the original Asteroids back in the day, and wasn’t completely satisfied with the role that asteroids played in Alien Space. As such, the main focus for this new mode is to somehow base the gameplay more heavily around the asteroids that are floating around the galaxy. Additional modes, weapons, or enemies are also a possibility for the new game, though nothing is set in stone currently.

Here’s a short video of the new retro-themed Alien Space. It’s still in progress, so the explosions and some of the weapon effects haven’t received the retro treatment yet, but it should give you an idea of the direction the game is going:

Owens is shooting to have this new Alien Space in the App Store by mid-to-late March, barring any sort of hang ups. If you haven’t yet checked out the original game, it’s currently on sale for 99¢ and there is a lite version to try as well. We’ll take a look at this new version of Alien Space with the old-looking style when it launches this March.

Another game I checked out at Macworld this year is the upcoming Look Again from developer Smappsoft, who have previously brought Chinese 13 Card Poker [$4.99] to the App Store, along with various other non-game apps. Look Again is actually a very clever idea for a game. The basic premise is that there are 12 designs bordering the screen and one image made up of 3 overlapped designs in the middle. The goal is to choose which of the 3 outside designs comprise the main image.

It’s a simple idea but one I haven’t seen used before. This video explains the gameplay in Look Again really well:

Smappsoft is hoping to have Look Again available within the next month. The core gameplay is complete, and they are just tweaking things like difficulty and the final amount of levels. Initially they are expecting to have at least 100 levels, and can change around the difficulty by having the center image comprised from 2-5 images or having the outer row of images do things like rotate, flip, and disappear. Game Center will be integrated as well for tracking achievements and high scores.

We’ll take a closer look at Look Again when it becomes available sometime in the next month or so.

Last Thursday at Macworld 2011 I stopped by the booth for XMG Studio and had a chance to check out their latest game that should be releasing very soon. XMG is responsible for some incredibly popular titles on the App Store, like Drag Racer [$2.99/Free/HD], Little Metal Ball [$2.99/Free/HD], Cannon Cadets [99¢/Free], and most recently Inspector Gadget’s MAD Dash [99¢/HD].

Their upcoming title is called Cows Vs. Aliens, and after spending some time playing it I think it has the potential to be another popular addition to their library. Cows Vs. Aliens is a casual title built on a super simple game mechanic. Waves of cows will spawn from the bottom of the screen, and it’s your goal to herd them into the barn entrance at the top of the screen. Aliens will begin to show up in the herd, and you must scoot them off to the sides of the screen before they have a chance to get in your barn, in which case it’s game over.

What makes Cows Vs. Aliens so fun to play is the interesting controls. Touching the screen creates a circular barrier of sorts, and you’ll use your two thumbs to pinch and push the herd towards the barn. You can even use up to 5 points of multitouch on the iPhone (up to 11 on the iPad) to try and utilize different strategies for better results. The waves increase in size as you progress, with both more cows and more aliens providing a greater challenge as the game goes on.

Cows Vs. Aliens is one of those games that is really easy for anyone to play, but offers a real challenge when going for higher scores. Game Center integration with leaderboards and achievements adds to that allure. Cows Vs. Aliens should be submitted in the next few days, if not already, so be on the lookout for it soon. XMG also has roughly 6 new titles slated for the rest of the year, including some that utilize interesting licensed IP, so we’ll be bringing you more information on these upcoming titles as it becomes available.

It was back in October that we began following the saga of Sarien.net, a retro Sierra adventure game portal setup by developer Martin Kool. In April 2009 his website began offering entirely web-based remakes of classic Sierra adventures, built entirely with HTML, CSS, and Javascript (though the project really began back in 2001 with a Sierra-inspired graphical chat client). Last year, Kool began creating versions of these web-based games with an interface and graphical treatment appropriate for the iPad and mobile Safari. The first iPad release to go online was Space Quest, which we previewed in November, followed by King's Quest and Leisure Suit Larry, earlier this month. These games were basically reverse engineered, ground-up remakes and were not licensed by Sierra. And, as such, last week's news of Sarien.net receiving a cease & desist letter from Sierra and closing its doors was sad, but not highly surprising.

It seems the Sarien.net story is not over, however. Kool has just revealed in a lengthy blog post that includes a fully history of the project that, in an unexpected turn of events, Activision has contacted him with a proposal offering limited official authorization to publish a subset of his remakes online.

Activision proposed to officially authorize Sarien.net to publish the first game of any series in its multiplayer HTML5 form. As it may generate interest in also playing the games' successors, Sarien.net will provide a link to Steam and other services that offer the full game collections. To me that sounds beyond "fair enough", and very reasonable. Also, as Activision may (or may not) choose to provide official releases of these games through the AppStore, they requested that all iPad versions of the games be removed.

Now even though it is based upon the same HTML5 technology I also find this request understandable, as I would probably have done the same if I were Activision. Then again, if I co-owned Activision instead of Q42, there might've been a World of Space Quest and worldwide free beers on Fridays, but right now this really is a huge step forward and allows games like Space Quest, Police Quest and King's Quest to be played by many people during work hours - err, I mean, in a browser.

And, so it seems that that Sarien.net and some of its web-based Sierra adventures will live on, though iPad gamers will not be enjoying the excellent custom treatment that they may be accustomed to -- unless Sierra launches their own iOS versions of said classics. (Incidentally, the jury is still out on what will ultimately become of Leisure Suit Larry, as it seems Activision sold it to CodeMasters at some point in the past.)

Kool indicates that his first order of business is to restore Sarien.net to what it was (but with the approved list of games), with a redesign and additional functionality to follow. While it's less than we'd hope for as far as iPad adventurers are concerned, this is certainly good news for the gaming community in general. And we offer a "hats off" to Activision for their consideration to Sarien.net regarding these classics.

So there's these oranges... They're just hanging out amidst wooden blocks and platforms of various sizes, against the backdrop of numerous lovely pastoral landscapes. It's about all an orange could ask for, really. Well, it would be about all an orange could ask for, were it not for this pesky and dangerous cloud that keeps blowing about, precipitating deadly poisonous rain and spelling gruesome death for said oranges. Poor, poor oranges!

Such is the dilemma in FDG Entertainment's iOS physics puzzler Cover Orange [App Store]. But, fret not -- there is something you can do...

Cover Orange presents you with level after platform-filled level of cute little vulnerable oranges, and it's your mission to protect them -- to cover them, if you will -- from the aforementioned cloud's deadly rain. This is done by strategically dragging and dropping the various objects at your disposal (each level presents you with a different mix) onto the platforms where the oranges are resting. This might mean filling a gap between two platforms with a crate to provide cover, or nudging an orange towards the safety of an overhang with a wagon wheel, or dropping in barrels and a crate to build a makeshift house, of sorts, for a helpless orange.

As you progress through the levels, the platform arrangements grow more elaborate. You may need to drop a barrel onto one end of a lever platform to catapult an orange across the screen, or nudge a hinged hammer into motion to get things flying about the level properly. Whatever the case, the end goal is to keep the bouncing droplets (more like pellets, really) of rain from contacting any orange on the screen when the cloud comes passing by.

A realistic physics system acts upon every object onscreen, including each raindrop, which brings with it a bit of collision chaos that inserts a bit of chance as to whether your particular arrangement of objects will get the job done. In short, there is no single, right solution in many cases, and it feels like luck plays a role, as well.

My only real gripe with the game is to do with the scaling of difficulty as the levels advance. The difficulty does increase with the level number, in general, but there are several instances where you may still be patting yourself on the back for completing so complex a level arrangement, when faced with a follow-up level that's quite basic and easy to complete. Additionally, I have heard comments from one or two gamers who dislike the feeling of luck being a part of things, that I described earlier. It's hard to articulate, but there's definitely a feeling that, where you thought you placed your objects well and still failed, another round of the same arrangement might yield success. It's to do with the chaos introduced by the physics system. It may leave a sour taste in your mouth, but it bothers me not at all (because, while it sometimes hurts, it sometimes helps).

Cover Orange for iOS is a port of an existing Flash title, but with notable scenery enhancements. FDG released both Cover Orange [link] for the iPhone / iPod touch and Cover Orange HD [link] for the iPad in mid-December and in the month and a half since, the game has become quite popular, seeing over 2 million downloads.

In the time I've spent with Cover Orange so far, I've definitely felt that "ok, just one more level" draw that a clever puzzler will inspire, making it tough to walk away from. And, while I've not run through all 120 levels (and 20 more are on the way at the time of this writing), I expect I will soon enough.

I know it's not the same sort of game, but if you like Angry Birds and its ilk, I think Cover Orange will be worth your while -- there's just a spiritual similarity of sorts going on there. At any rate, at least give the Flash version a whirl or check out the lite version of Cover Orange HD [link].

Early arcade games were pretty much all about a very simple play mechanic that just worked. Appreciation of such simplicity in gameplay is a big driver of the growing retro gaming crowd -- that and nostalgia. Two games from back in the day that delivered such gameplay are Asteroids and Breakout. Simple, addictive. iOS developer Coolpowers has endeavored to combine both of those formulas into the same game with his recent release, Breakeroids [App Store].

Breakeroids is, as it's name might suggest, a mashup of Breakout and Asteroids. It works like this... The upper three-quarters of the screen is a pretty standard Asteroids-like field of asteroids drifting about the play area, with the occasional alien saucer passing by. The lower quarter of the screen contains a Breakout-style paddle, separated from the asteroids by a multilayer convex shield.

As the game begins, you fire a ball up towards the asteroids in an effort to break them into smaller and smaller pieces, eventually eliminating them. Power-ups (thank you, Arkanoid) descend occasionally, for better and for worse. The aforementioned shield keeps the asteroids (but not the alien saucer's bombs) from passing into your paddle space -- but with each missed ball, one layer of the shield drops off. You start with three shield layers, but eventually (for all but the perfect player) that drops to two, then one, then...none. And, once your shield is gone, the first time an asteroid passes off the bottom of the screen, it's Game Over. You get a full, new set of shields with each level and, in classic arcade fashion, there is an infinite number of levels. And the whole scene is rendered in beautiful, glowing retro vectors that support the Retina display and, at that resolution, look as if they're being rendered onto a proper vector monitor.

Breakeroids is a lot of fun. One the one hand, it's a pretty simple game, though a little more complex than either Asteroids or Breakout alone, understandably. But keeping track of what can and can't pass through that shield when the action gets hectic can make for a rather intense experience.

My only complaint about the game is the generally lengthy process of smashing that last, tiny asteroid on the playfield. With it and your ball both in motion, it can be a bit of a tedious process to get to the next level. But it's not a deal breaker. And, in fact, a few deal sweeteners will arrive shortly, when the game sees a free upgrade to a universal app, adding native support for the iPad's larger screen, and gets a same-device multiplayer mode.

Breakeroids uses swipe controls for the onscreen paddle, and both OpenFeint and Game Center are supported for online leaderboards and achievement tracking.

If you're the kind of gamer that digs Asteroids and Breakout and are into the retro aesthetic, Breakeroids is one you'll probably want to grab. Our readers are having a good time with it, so far.

Not to toot my own horn, but I totally (almost) called this earlier today. Sure, I guessed The Eagle instead of Rio, and I was being sarcastic, but I'm going to go ahead and add yet another point to the ol' Hodapp crystal ball score board regardless. What's all this madness about anyway? Well, moments ago Rovio Mobile unleashed a new Angry Birds trailer to the world, revealing that the next installment of Angry Birds is going to be Angry Birds Rio, which will come packed with 45 exclusive levels which sound like they're going to be set in the Rio universe with more content coming via updates.

Rio is an upcoming movie from the creators of Ice Age. The movie follows the adventures of two blue macaws who go on an adventure, get captured, and do all those other things that typically happen in animated movies where animals talk. OK, I admit, I actually kind of want to see it because I enjoyed Ice Age (specifically, Scrat the sabre-toothed squirrel) a little more than an adult probably should. Check out the trailer. After you watch that, get a load of this all new Angry Birds Rio trailer, which arguably is even better than the Rio trailer:

No word yet on whether this is going to be free or paid, but since Angry Birds Rio is basically a marketing tool to promote a multi-million dollar movie, I'm going to lean towards the free side of the spectrum. That's purely speculation on my part, but the Hodapp crystal ball has been freakishly accurate lately.

No need to lead you on here. I think Puzzle Quest 2 [$4.99] is a fantastic game and a must-have if you’re a fan of the first game, match-3 or even loot-based RPGs. It's even universal, and plays great on every device. I realize I’m tossing out a huge net, but it’s just that good of game. And now, for a limited time, it’s just about half off on the App Store, down from its original $9.99 price point.

I know there are only three people left on the planet who haven’t seen or checked out Puzzle Quest. The game is, you know, popular (and available on basically ever platform capable of playing a modern video game on). But in the interest of those three poor, poor souls out there, here’s a basic rundown via our review:

“Puzzle Quest 2 is a match-3 title drenched in RPG trappings. You'll start the game by picking from a crop of traditional fantasy classes, each with their own abilities, and then be thrust into a medieval world with a lot of problems. People will want you to fetch them items, explore places, or kill monsters.

You can level up, equip weapons and items, craft even more, and navigate dungeons one grid at a time. Like in the previous Puzzle Quest, movement is restricted to following a developer-created path. You do not have complete control of your dude. But, really, that never matters. This is a game about killing, not meandering.”

So, yeah, feel free to pick it up. In the notes, publisher Namco isn’t giving up when this sale will end, but I have feeling -- and it’s just a feeling -- that it’ll last through this coming weekend.

I'm not entirely sure what to say about all this. On one hand, I'm a massive Monty Python and the Holy Grail fan, on the other, I'm terribly tired of Angry Birds [99¢] clones. That being said, Monty Python has existed since the late 1960's and has built of a fairly fantastic reputation for amazing parody over the years, so if anyone can put a funny spin on the Angry Birds formula, it would be them. (Hey, I'm cautiously optimistic.)

In the game, you play the role of the French defending their castle, which should be instantly familiar to anyone who has seen the movie. If this doesn't ring a bell, you should seriously Netflix Monty Python and the Holy Grail immediately, or, I suppose you could just read the synopsis on IMDB (although that doesn't seem like much fun). In the game, you'll be able to fend off the daffy English knights (with the "k" pronounced, of course) in 80 different levels. Your ammo consists of six different types of farm animals, and it sounds like you can even upgrade your catapult.

I have no clue whether or not Monty Python's Cow Tossing will be any fun or not when it actually launches, but I'm hopeful. Admittedly, it really does have the odds stacked against it in the fact that it's not only a game based on a movie (which often can be the video game kiss of death) but it's also an Angry Birds knock-off. Hopefully they're able to cram enough Monty Python humor in to the game that it's at least funny to play. I've got my fingers crossed, anyway.

Cyan Worlds is currently running a limited time, half price sale on Riven [App Store] for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Riven, the best selling game of 1997, the year of its release, is, as its name suggests, a followup to Cyan's famed 1993 surreal graphical adventure Myst (which is also available in the App Store [link]).

In Riven, the player resumes the role of the first game's protagonist, The Stranger. Atrus, author of the linking books that provide access to the various Ages, needs The Stranger's help in rescuing Catherine, his wife, who is held captive by the evil Ghen in the dying Age of Riven.

Like Myst that came before it, Riven is a point-and-click adventure, but with far more lush scenery and animations. The iOS version of the game features Cyan's new "Shake-A-Hint" system, that highlights action points to help the stuck player along.

Riven HD, a native iPad version of the game, is expected to be released sometime later.

Lima Sky's Doodle Jump [99¢] is no stranger to crossovers. In fact, there was a time where the current trend of the App Store was either including Doodle Jump in some way, or getting Doodle Jump to include an element of your game. Pocket God [99¢], for instance, featured a mini-game similar to Doodle Jump while Doodle Jump included the pygmies as a secret playable character.

According to our bros over at Pocket Gamer, Lima Sky has just inked a deal with Universal Pictures to include the main character of the upcoming movie "Hop", likely as part of their somewhat inevitable Easter-themed update. Doodle Jump has become surprisingly mainstream over the years, and it has been featured in a number of places including Lady Gaga concerts, The Jimmy Fallon show, and even on the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. Or, as Lima Sky front man Igor Pusenjak says, “To have Doodle Jump involved with the launch of a major motion picture demonstrates how influential apps have become in just a few short years.”

Sure, this isn't the most remarkable iOS news to hit the scene lately, but it's still really cool to see major movie studios like Universal Pictures taking an interest in iPhone apps. Also, sponsored content like this only leads to more free updates for players. The only question that really remains is which game will fall under the crosshairs of the next big-budget marketing push? An Angry Birds [99¢] tie in with the upcoming drama "The Eagle"? (I hope so, that would be awesome.)

[via Pocket Gamer]

These castle versus castle games are all over the App Store. Some are fantasy based, a whole heck of a lot of them use stick figures, and one even uses puppets. The gameplay of these games are all strikingly similar: You have a set of units which cost a particular amount of whatever resource it is that the game uses. Once you stockpile enough of that resource to produce a unit, you tap the button, and said unit comes rushing out of your castle to battle to the death. (Or, if things are going your way, make it all the way to the other castle and destroy it.)

This also aptly describes the core gameplay found in Liv Games' Legendary Wars [$2.99], but there's so much variety and so many things to work towards that I've been having an absolutely fantastic time playing through it. The game begins with an entirely cliche fantasy setting of a kingdom in chaos, and you're in charge of collecting Sunstone fragments in attempt to rid the world of evil. The path the story takes you through involves fighting all sorts of different enemies on levels with varied objectives.

While many levels consist of the standard castle vs castle battle, Legendary Wars breaks up the monotony with levels where you'll control a single unit that play like a sidescroller, or battles where you're given an extremely powerful hero unit which must survive, and more. The actual castle vs castle fights are great too, as instead of simply sending an array of units to their doom, successfully surviving a battle requires a bit of strategy.

Battles begin with you dispatching a miner (aptly named "Miney") to your mine in the background to collect crystals. He saunters off to the mine, appears a few seconds later with a massive chunk of crystal in his hands, and you've got to tap it to collect it. Once you've got enough crystals to train additional units, much like other castle vs castle games, you tap the icon for said unit and it comes barging out of your castle. The main difference here is that there are three distinct lanes in the game world that you can spawn your dudes in and that enemies can come running down.

Units can be tapped and directly controlled, allowing you to make them change lanes, engage an enemy, or retreat back to your castle. This basic level of control actually gives you the power to do a surprising amount of micromanagement in your battles. For instance, if you've got a set of enemy archers incoming, moving your units to different lanes will avoid their attacks until they get within melee distance to start fighting. Enemies will change lanes too, so you've got to do some quick finger work to keep your army from getting pelted with arrows.

Similarly, the different units of your army compliment each other and must be used intelligently to win. Knights who do little damage but can take a beating need to be deployed in front of archers, who can bring the pain but quickly die if any pain is brought upon them. Killing enemies fills up a mana bar of sorts, and you're able to do a special attack for bonus damage by selecting a unit and tapping the button in the bottom corner of your screen. Oh, and while you're doing all this, you need to be constantly collecting resources from your miner(s).

Following a successful battle, you'll be able to return to your armory where you can upgrade various statistics for each of your units, as well as your castle itself. The rate at which these upgrades are unlocked seems to be perfectly tuned, as each battle affords you a small set of upgrades, while dangling that dreaded virtual carrot in front of your face to play just one more battle to soup your forces up even more.

There are endless defense, side scrolling, and survival game modes which can be unlocked which add replay value to the game, and the campaign mode itself is pretty massive. If you have it in your heart to play yet another castle vs castle game, Legendary Wars is an easy pick. Even if you've grown tired of these types of games, it does enough differently that it feels remarkably fresh, which is a real accomplishment in any over-saturated genre on the App Store. The only real down side this game has it that it doesn't come with Retina Display-friendly graphics. If you're playing on a newer device, the game (like most non-retina games) looks fairly blurry, but this didn't stop me from enjoying it.

The original Hysteria Project [Free] was released in early 2009, and still sticks in my head as one of the more memorable iPhone games I've tried. It's free right now, and you really should give it a try... But, if you're in a place where it's not feasible to quickly download a 150MB iPhone game, here's the gist: Hysteria Project plays surprisingly similar to those old Sega CD era full motion video games in that you don't have very much interaction and you're mostly just watching a video with branching points. During the game you'll have an opportunity to tap certain objects to interact with the game world, decide where your character runs, or other things like that.

Even though gameplay was more than a little basic, I thought it was really well done and combined a cool little indie horror flick with some interactivity. The game is short, but was just long enough to leave you walking away from it saying to yourself, "Huh, that was cool." And really, games that make you think that seem to be entirely too rare these days. Hysteria Project 2 [$1.99] can be described in mostly the same way.

Like its predecessor, it's a full motion video game with a heaping helping of video to watch. There is significantly more interactivity this time around, but at its core the game is still a Sega CD style FMV game, which means interactivity is limited to some puzzles and other touch-based mini-games. Unfortunately, these puzzles and mini-games really aren't much fun, usually aren't explained very well (if at all), and the only hints you'll find are generally on the game over screen-- A screen which you will get incredibly used to seeing while playing through the game.

Both Hysteria Project games kind of give me the same vibe as Papa Sangre [$4.99] which I reviewed yesterday. I'm glad they exist, and they're the exact kind of crazy indie games that I love seeing crop up on the App Store, but I'm not sure how strong of a recommendation I can give them. They're great experiences, but I wouldn't really describe them as "fun", which I think is what most people are shooting for when they're looking for a new game to play.

That being said, if anything above sounds even remotely interesting to you, you need to try the original Hysteria Project while it's free. If you play through that and are looking for more, dive into the sequel.