You'll Have To Keep Working Towards New Goals In A Wonderfully Implemented Puzzle Game: Chains Mobile
Chains Mobile ($0.99) by Ivan Traykov is a very different puzzle game that has you matching up colorful pieces. This alone is not a new idea, but these pieces are often moving around a lot and are found in a large variety of objectives.
You may have heard of Chains. It was released for PC and Mac in 2008 and is now available on the iPhone.
There are 20 levels to enjoy. Trident, the first level, which asks you to clear away 100 pieces, is the easiest and gives a good introduction to the basic mechanics of gameplay. By swiping a finger over adjacent pieces of the same color, you'll connect them.
Connect three or more pieces and they pop and disappear off the board. You can connect pieces across the black lines, which appear to be there only to give some shape to the pieces as they fall.
This basic theme extends to other levels, but their objectives are so varied it's like having a collection of completely different puzzles.
For example, The Gate (level two) has pieces falling down onto a kind of trap door held closed by a weight. You have to clear 200 pieces before enough accumulate so that they become heavy enough to open the door.
Another example would be The Stream (level four), which has a constant flow of pieces falling down from the top. They begin to collect and clump together, and will eventually cause a complete block. You've got to keep the stream flowing by clearing away the pieces for three minutes.
Chains Mobile does what so many puzzle games try to do. It takes a simple idea and recasts it in so many different forms that we end up with a very irresistible and very replayable game. If you’re even remotely interested in puzzles, I can fully recommend it.
