I don't know about you, but I think Disney's foray into mobile games might have yielded some of the most creative work of its recent years. Ignoring of course the companies they own, the Mouse House has been seen as lagging in both the movie and videogame departments for quite some time. As anyone not living in a sewer themselves knows, that all changed with the release of Where's My Water? [$0.99] For the first time in...well...ever, a new Disney icon had been created at the videogame level first, and the company seemed to be using mobile to kick off an upswing in the quality department. So naturally, with an alligator as their new face of gaming, they'd follow things up with...a fluffy kitten. Wait, what?

If Mittens [$0.99] - from its seemingly detached concept to its unexpected existence - has you skeptical, you're not alone. Heck, in our TA Plays for the game, Brad drew some early conclusions about the way that the experience seemed like it was playing things disappointingly safe both from a mechanical and creative standpoint. Having now cleared through all of the game's levels and its available bonus pack, it seems that like its in-game collectibles, this one might just be a gem after all. As with the title's titular feline, though, players may go through ups and downs along the way.

The thing is, where Swampy brought with him not only a novel concept but a slew of memorable levels - each of which felt like it had a distinct theme and purpose - Mittens meanders much more on its way to eventual greatness. As with any physics puzzler, the basics are covered in the first few levels of each zone, with the core concept revolving around the need to swipe and tap our brave kitty to safety on a quest to impress his true love. Unfortunately, this introductory mindset seems to bleed into a large portion of the game's first fifty levels, with many of them feeling like indistinct, unmemorable versions of one another.

You know that sense you get when a new level in a three-star puzzler feels vaguely like a rearranged version of the one you played just far enough back that the game thinks you forgot it? Yeah, it's that.  All the trademark elements are in place, including sliced ropes, last minute drops onto bouncy objects, and risky collectible snagging - painted with a Disney polish that ensures everything feels smooth and precise. Yet for all its emphatic not-badness, there's a lingering feeling of ho-hum in the first two zones that's hard to shake. A sense that Disney might be trading in slightly on its newly minted supremacy in the genre, doing far less than they could to justify a purchase.

The yin to this more reserved yang, however, comes in the form of the levels that appear towards the end of each zone, as well as almost the entirety of the game's third area. Reassuringly, Mittens does eventually step out of the genre's comfort zone to deliver a much fresher take on a well-trod play style. First appearing as five bonus levels that are unlocked as you collect gems, these more complicated stages feel like a wonderful mix between Amazing Alex [$0.99] and Cut the Rope [$0.99]. Each one  departs from the "tap here, swipe this" feeling, instead forcing you to navigate landscapes already full of motion, and piece together the perfect timing needed to play your role as the little furry cog in a miniature machine. Better still? They tie together wonderfully and make up for the feeling of detachment prevalent throughout earlier levels. My particular favorites are the five final circus big-tops of the second zone, that culminate in a brilliant level full of tightropes, cannons, and miniature cars.

And while the last zone and the game's much tougher (and more imaginative) harbor zone continue this trend, I can't help but wonder why it feels like it takes almost half the game to get there. Drawing further attention to the game's design foibles is a seeming lack of effort in  - of all areas - production values. Mittens' is completely without stage music save for a repetitive chime at the end of a level, and the cut scenes that exist to punctuate play pale in comparison to the subtle, endearing storytelling achieved in Where's My Water? Except for grating meows when you fall into blackness or foul up, the titular kitty lacks all semblance of a personality, and it proves nigh-impossible to invest in the game beyond the compulsive desire to beat its levels.

This, perhaps, is the predicament I'm having with Mittens. You'd be hard pressed to call it bad by any stretch, and about half way through, it manages to take off in ways not hinted at in our TA Plays video to become a pretty wonderful take on the physics puzzler. At a dollar, and with a future that will doubtless be filled with more content, fans of the genre would be hard pressed not to pick this one up. At the same time, however, it's more than a little disheartening that Disney seems to have followed up their return to form with a return to safety, and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect more than a competent time-killer from a studio of their pedigree.

Like a top notch student handing in a rush job, Mittens sags not under the weight of what it does wrong, but all that it could have done much better.

I'm a big fan of survival horror games, especially ones like Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Slender, which provide no means of defending yourself from their boogeymen. You run and hide, or you die. While scoping out upcoming App Store releases late Wednesday evening, I learned about Eyes - The Horror Game [$0.99], a port of the indie PC title of the same name that promised a similar flight-no-fight experience. On an iPhone.

It was to laugh--to guffaw, I tell you!--at the idea that any game on a five-inch screen could make me shriek like Jamie Lee Curtis in a Halloween flick. But I am comfortable enough in my rugged masculinity (I haven't shaved in six weeks) to admit that's exactly what happened. I downloaded the game, plugged in my ear buds, turned off the lights, and turned up the volume. And within two minutes--give or take 60 seconds--I bounded out of bed mumbling "Nope nope nope nope" and switched the bedroom lights back on and started in on the much more cheerful Sonic Dash.

The goal of Eyes, like the controls you'll use to accomplish that goal, is deceptively simple. Ransack an old house to retrieve bags of money. A virtual stick moves you forward and back, sliding your thumb over the right half of the screen rotates your view, and you pick up objects by tapping them. Drawers also open with a quick tap. Simple, just like I said.

The hard part is mustering the courage to pillage and plunder. Eyes immerses you in incredible atmosphere, and as any survival horror savant will tell you, the right atmosphere makes or breaks the experience. Every chamber is dark and dusty. Wind howls and batters against the walls, your footsteps thump along, clocks tick and tock, and doors creak when you open them.

Those ambient noises set the mood, but they also serve as an early warning system. When your teeth begin to chatter and the furniture begins to rattle, make for the nearest room and cower in the corner. A ghost roams the manse, and she's not keen on the idea of letting you abscond with her earthly possessions. Catch more than a glimpse of the lady of the house and it's game over, much like bumping into the Slender Man in his backwoods domain.

The inherent sloppiness of the virtual stick inadvertently added to my experience. Doors are supposed to open when you push against them, but unless you hit them dead on, you'll just slide back and forth against them like a drunkard who's forgotten how knobs works. Every time the ghost got the jump on me, I ended up turning heel and throwing myself at the nearest door and fumbling against it due to the virtual stick's slipperiness. That heightened my sense of panic; I felt like I was a character in a horror movie who was too overcome with fear to properly grasp and turn a knob.

To finish Eyes, you need only collect a specified number of bags determined by your difficulty level and escape through the front door before the ghost nabs you. The house both helps and hinders your quest. Bags and other items such as keys are randomly strewn about each time you play. Your map fills in as you explore, but does not show your position, so you'll need to keep track of every twist and turn you take, especially in the basement. Eye symbols, also randomly placed, let you look through the ghost's eyes for a few moments--a handy if disorienting tool that can help you plan routes.

My only complaints are the ease of finding money bags and the short length of the game. The bags sparkle, standing out even in pitch blackness. Some are stashed away, but you can spot most by standing in one spot and turning around. Once you collect your bags and hit the front door, that's it. You're done. Once you learn your way around the house, completing the adventure won't take long even considering the random placement of items. I understand why randomizing the architecture isn't possible, but I'd love a longer experience--maybe an extra stage or two as IAP, or perhaps a sequel or remake along the lines of Slender: Arrival.

Those are minor gripes, though. Take my advice: don't be like me. Wait until after dark, shut (lock) yourself in a quiet room, and pop in your ear buds. Eyes is as immersive, as unsettling, and as chilling a horror experience as you'll find on any platform, if not as lengthy as horror fans would like.

Hello everyone. My name is Eli, and...I can't say no to the retro aesthetic. Wow! It feels good to get that one off my chest. In all seriousness, though, the resurgence of 8 and 16-bit era visuals on iOS has done a number on my wallet over the past few years, and that's been somewhat of a double-edged sword.

On one hand, I've discovered some fantastic experiences steeped in nostalgia: everything from Velocispider [$1.99 / Free] to Mikey Shorts [$0.99 / Free]. Yet for every gem that's still on my device, there's at least three lame ducks that have suckered me in with the power of childhood fan service.

So when I discovered Pixel Licker Games' Slayin [$0.99] as the result of a friend's tweet - complete with an icon that looked like a cartridge and an in-game controller skin - I knew I was powerless. The only question that remained was: would it be a wonderful walk down memory lane, or end up collecting virtual dust with all the other deleted duds?

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Considering the large amount of physics-based puzzlers that get continually released on the App Store, it takes a special kind of title to differentiate itself from the pack. Little Bit Games' The Seed [$0.99] does so in a variety of ways. Its emphasis on minimalist (but beautiful) presentation combined with approachable gameplay is a great mix and is executed well. In addition, its subtle narrative and reflective visuals lead to a game that's only sullied by its shortness.

As you might imagine, The Seed tasks players with guiding a magical seed through a variety of barren locales on a quest to regrow the land. This is accomplished by guiding the seed through a variety of stages with the goal of each to land the seed on a flat of fertile ground which allows it to grow a plant and move on. Sounds relatively simple, but the simple act of guiding and moving the seed (which is done via water droplets) is an adventure in itself.

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It's time to take a bite of the reality sandwich. At the end of the day, office worker bees can only put out so many fires and circle back to so many tasks before they need to table their workload and develop a more synergistic flow. What I mean to say, I think, is that you need to loosen your white collar, grab a foreign object, and smash your office to smithereens or risk becoming a lifer who goes postal or, worse, stares mindlessly while muttering about a stapler.

The prototypical office drone you play in Smash the Office [$0.99] has done just that. Reduced to a gibbering mess by unrealistic time tables, micromanagement, office jargon, and conversations that no doubt began with "Workin' hard or hardly workin'?", your character takes up the nearest blunt instrument and sets out to raze his workplace to the ground.

Each level drops you in a standard nine-to-five office setting replete with cube farms, servers, computer, and other office gear. With a club in hand, you have exactly one minute to earn a high score by smashing and bashing everything in sight. Once you've, uh, taken the meeting offline in one room, break down the door to move on to the next room of breakables.

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I've been golfing before. The first time I tagged along with my dad. He hit a ball just off a slope. We hopped in the buggy to retrieve it, he told me to lean out and grab it as we rumbled by, I fell out and tumbled down the slope. The second time, I actually played! Just one hole, though. Why? Because golf is boring when you have to, you know, fish your ball out of sand traps and actually walk around. Yep, that's golf: boring at best, painful at worst. Thanks, Dad.

Super Stickman Golf, however, is neither boring nor painful. It is awesome. If you enjoyed developer Noodlecake's golf-slash-physics-puzzler, you'll be happy to hear that Super Stickman Golf 2 [$0.99] is loads better, and available at the same impulse-buy price point.

Super Stickman Golf 2 challenges you to complete courses at or under par. Sounds a lot like golf, right? Well, instead of straight shots from tee-off to the green, each hole in Super Stickman Golf 2 plays out like an obstacle course. There are pits, sand traps, water traps, moving platforms, lasers that vaporize your perfectly-aimed shots, and portals inspired by Valve's popular spatial puzzler: smack a ball through one portal and it pops out the other.

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We're still playing a bit of catch up from GDC, but one of the more substantial under-the-radar releases of last week definitely needs some more attention than it's getting. It's called Fester Mudd: Curse of the Gold [$0.99] and the (currently available) first episode seems like a fantastic tribute to adventure games from ages ago. Set in the old west, you play as Fester Mudd and you need to complete all sorts of classic adventure-y style puzzles to progress in your hunt for endless riches.

It's published by Replay Games, which may ring a bell as they're the same guys responsible for that awesome Leisure Suit Larry remake we saw at GDC. Fester Mudd even captures the graphical style of Lucas Arts and Sierra adventure games:

People are loving the game in our forums, and it's definitely going on the list of things we need to review... So, keep an eye out for that in the not too distant future as we dig out from the pile of GDC games and emails we missed. But, in the meantime, if you even have the vaguest of fond memories of classic adventure games, and you have a dollar to your name, you need to spend some time with Fester.

Rovio's latest Angry Birds release took the epic struggle of Birds versus Pigs and mashed it together with the epic struggle of Rebel versus Empire in the Star Wars universe. And it worked, as Angry Birds Star Wars provided a ton of twists on the usual bird-flinging formula while simultaneously doing a great job of implementing the Star Wars universe without feeling forced or tacked on. We thought Angry Birds Star Wars was really great in our review.

More is on the way, too, and GameTrailers has landed the first brief glimpse of an upcoming Angry Birds Star Wars update which will add levels set in Cloud City, the setting of Lando's dirty backstabbing and poor Han getting frozen in a block of carbonite. Good times!

GameTrailers will have more on the Cloud City update on Monday, so keep your eyes peeled for that and it sounds like the update is basically done and should be hitting in the very near future.

Late last month a crazy new game called Towelfight 2: The Monocle of Destiny [$0.99] hit the ol' App Store from a developer called Butterscotch Shenanigans. You could tell by the title of the game and the name of the studio that this isn't a game that takes itself too seriously, and that's one of the big reasons we were drawn to Towelfight 2 – it's jam packed with wackiness. You can read all about the crazy antics in store for you in our review of Towelfight 2 or see it in action in our TA Plays video.

While there was a ton to enjoy about Towelfight 2 and we loved its humor, what we didn't love as much were the controls, and that seemed the consensus among other players as well. Something about them just felt "off" compared to other dual-stick shooters, and there was a lack of options for customizing them – something that's important for a touchscreen game.

Today the Butterscotch folks look to address this with a new update to Towelfight 2, and I think they nailed it. You can now position the controls in the lower corners of the screen, which feels a lot more natural to me. The visual d-pads have also been made slightly larger and you can toggle whether you want them to be "floating" or "fixed."

Besides the tweaked controls, there's a lot of other new stuff in this latest Towelfight 2 update. The Arena has seen adjustments to enemies and challenges, and there's two brand new modes: the Endless Arena and the Insane Arena. There are also three new 'Jectiles which cannot be bought in the in-game store, but rather must be earned by defeating the boss in each of the Marsh, Forest and Nightmare zones. Finally, a new NPC named The Bagician can offer you powerful 5-minute enchantments when you need a little extra something something.

There are lots of other little tweaks and fixes in this update, but the bottom line is that if you tried Towelfight 2 before and thought it controlled kinda weird, give it another shot after this update. It's made a big difference for me, and the folks in our forums seem to be quite pleased with it as well. More is in the pipeline for Towelfight 2 too, including Game Center integration, so definitely give this unique and funny game a look.

Update: The developers have dropped the price to 99¢, go go go!

In my fourth year of university, I took a class called Canadian Experimental Shorts. I wasn't optimistic going in (I mean, that title alone puts you to sleep, right?). On my first day, however, instead of handing out notes or instructions, the professor dimmed the lights and showed us something I had never seen before: a film without cameras. Barely longer than two minutes, it was animated entirely onto physical film strip, and packed with color that danced, twinkled, and exploded to the sound of classic jazz. Its name was Cameras Take Five, and it sold me on Canadian Experimental Shorts. Good news if you're looking for something completely original: Melodive [$2.99] is basically Cameras Take Five: The Game.

Fair warning: like experimental film, this one isn't the most approachable at first blush. Before embracing the game's persistent feeling of being lost, I felt...well...completely lost. Unable to understand the controls, not quite sure what shapes I was looking at, and disturbingly confused as to which way was up. Fascinated by the ambient noises and sea of floating jewels, I decided to re-read the instructions section and give it another go. And another. And then another. And while I can't say I ever fully came to terms with which way was up, it ultimately didn't matter soon enough.

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Little Inferno [$4.99] is one part puzzle game, one part social commentary, and one part fireplace simulator. Ok, that's not exactly right, but it sort of is. Originally released to critical praise on desktops last November, Little Inferno surprised everybody by launching on the iPad with practically no warning back in January. As we elaborated in our 5 star review, Little Inferno shined even more brightly on the touchscreen iPad, and for this weekend only you can check it out for yourself for just 99¢, down from its original price of $4.99.

So what exactly do you do in Little Inferno? Well, you buy things, and then you burn those things in a fireplace. The burnt items inexplicably give you more money, which in turn you can use to buy better, more elaborate items. And then burn them. Seriously, that's basically the entire game, though there is a sweet combo system to discove, and the game itself is a visual and aural treat. Also it's just plain fun to burn stuff.

Little Inferno is one of those strange experiences, where there's not a ton about it in which you technically "play", but it's somehow still compelling and satisfying in a way that's hard to describe. I definitely recommend reading our aforementioned review, or checking out our forums for more impressions to see if it seems like your cup o' tea. But if you like quirky, entertaining experiences and had been on the fence about Little Inferno previously, this 99¢ sale is a great reason to finally take the plunge.

I told myself I'd go get lunch after getting through one more of Bobbing's [Free / $1.99] 86 levels. They're short and sweet, once you know what you're doing. It shouldn't have been a problem. Twenty minutes later, I was finally done. Famished, but finished. I probably should have taken the break I promised myself—Bobbing is not a game to be played on an empty stomach.

It's cute, colorful and quick, but it isn't kind. Most precision platformers eventually let you get by on muscle memory. Repeat a level enough times and you'll know it in your fingertips. Bobbing starts out that way, but it isn't long before it becomes clear that Little Bobby Games has created something more ambitious. Each level becomes a maze, a puzzle that needs to be worked out as you go.

You wouldn't think it would be all that complex. Each level is only half a screen high, and there are only two inputs to work with. Tap the left side of the screen to reverse gravity and the right to swap colors. It's loosely familiar if you've played Polara [$0.99], at least up to that point.

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There are a lot of themes that have been overdone in iOS -- zombies and retro-themed visuals, to name a few. However, one area that hasn't been fully explored is Greek mythology. Chillingo's Fury of the Gods [$0.99] looks to address that by combining well-known ancient mythology thematics with interactive tower-defense gameplay. While Fury's difficulty curve seems to lend itself a bit too much towards IAP, the core game is enjoyable and adds some nice touches to the traditional tower defense genre.

Putting you in the role of three ancient gods, Fury tells the tale of the human race rebelling against their former saviors. As mankind rises up and attempts to attack the gods, you'll utilize various powers and mythological creatures to repel the attacks and put humanity back in its place. Narratively, Fury sounds very much like a certain blockbuster movie series. However, originality aside, I still enjoyed the overall theme. The same goes for the visuals, which do a great job utilizing the Unreal engine to create some decent mythological environments. I only wish the game had more than just three locales, as each one looks great.

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Don’t cringe next time you’re gifted a bad sweater for Christmas – those adorable knitted trees and animals have feelings, you know. That’s if Forest Moon’s iPhone-only Knitted Deer [$0.99] is anything to go by, anyway. This runner brings a, well, knitted deer to life, prancing whimsically through purl-stitched meadows of floating skulls and circular saws. It’s deliciously delightful, in the same way as an awkward holiday dinner with extended family can be.

As far as controls go, you know the drill. Tap the left side of the screen to make our bipedal, antlered hero jump (or double-jump); spam-tap the right side to shoot-shoot-shoot. Various obstacles will keep coming at you, and your only goal is to either clear them or kill them. It takes awhile to get used to this deer’s super-high leaps and bounds, but once you’re familiar with it, Knitted Deer is rather engaging. You’ll pick up coins from fallen monsters, and these can be used in an upgrade system that feels admittedly under-implemented.

There’s no health bar, and you’ve got just two lives to spare – well, one life and one death, to be precise. When your happy reindeer slams headfirst into a barrier, he’s doomed to sweater hell with limbs flailing pitifully, the pleasant navy-and-cream color scheme giving way to a world of blood-red. Like Dante’s Inferno predicts, it’s a little more difficult down here than it is on mortal ground; hurled spears join the list of things trying to kill you, and the placement of barriers grows only more haphazard.

You’re not likely to last long. Most games will clock in at under a minute, which makes this the perfect timewaster for whiling away dragging moments at the bus stop.

The visuals and blippy music make for a beautiful aesthetic. While the chunky knit-stitch occasionally makes menu titles difficult to read, it’s been employed wonderfully in representing the deer and his danger-filled world – I never thought that watching a deer get his head ripped off by a bat might actually look rather charming.

The whole knit thing is the reason you’re most likely to pick up Knitted Deer, and it’s also the thing that’ll most likely keep you playing. If we’re being honest here, Knitted Deer doesn’t do anything new in the runner genre, besides veneering everything in yarn and adding a dark twist to our yuletide fashions. It does do an amazing job of exploiting its aesthetic, and it’s worth picking up purely because of that. Plus, just imagine the merchandising opportunities – I’m envisioning hell-sweaters, woollen deer plushies, everything.

Ravenous Games' Gravity Duck [$0.99] is the sort of game you already know if you’ve played indie PC gaming favorite VVVVVV – you’ve got happy pixelly graphics, the ability to jump's been replaced with a gravity-reversal mechanic that slings you from floor to ceiling, and even the same treacherous spikes litter the landscapes. Okay, there are a few differences. For one thing, this time around, you’re playing the part of a duck.

Our brave hero Mr. Duck is told, by a talking stone head, to retrieve golden eggs. The same head imbues him with the power to flip gravity. Why are there eggs and why does a stone head want them and why does he feel a duck is his best bet at retrieving them? you may ask, as I did. So this isn’t exactly the Dickens of iOS, but hey – you and I are more interested in the badassery of flipping gravity, right?

First impressions of Gravity Duck are unlikely to fall flat – the interface is delightfully uncluttered, the music chirpy, and the graphics wonderfully styled (small touches, such as our waddling hero’s “shrinking” animation upon collecting an egg, really add to Gravity Duck’s charm). In this altered platformer, the whole gravity-flip thing is initially a breeze for inexperienced players to pick up. Levels are short, and your goal is to navigate the spike pits, get to the end of each to pick up the golden egg, and warp through to the next level.

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