Price: $1.99  Score: 8/10  By Anna Papachristos

Learning the basics of mathematics is a must for everyone early on in life.  However, mastering these necessary skills isn’t always the easiest of tasks for young children.  While some pick up on how to form and solve equations right away, others need plenty of practice, as it does indeed make perfect.

For those looking for a new, more challenging way to not only test their mathematical prowess, but their ability to form equations as well, Alien Equation by Funner Labs, offers an interactive interface that is both fun and informative.  Designed to improve one’s fluency in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, Alien Equation offers beginner, expert and practice levels so kids can develop at their own pace, also allowing adults to test their knowledge and keep their minds sharp.

According to Alien Equation’s description, you are on an interstellar spaceship when your navigation computer contracts a virus (either sticky flu or a parasite, which will factor into game play down the line).  Your computer reverts to the intelligence of a 3-year-old and only you can save yourself from being stranded on a planet full of hairless apes by creating enough equations to get your ship moving again.

Navi (not to be confused with the Nav’i race in James Cameron’s Avatar) guides users at the start, explaining the process and remaining in the top right corner in case users wish to pause or exit the game during playtime.  Using a 6×6, 7×7 or 8×8 grid, users must arrange number tiles around the various ‘=’ tiles, while using the dark blue operator tiles (+, -, x, ÷) to create equations.  All dark blue operator tiles must be eliminated in order to move to the next level.  Simply touch the tiles and slide up and down or side to side.  Any that go off the edge neatly wrap around to the other side of the board.

Equations can only be formed horizontally, read from left to right, and vertically, read from top to bottom.  Each user can develop their own personal profile within the game in order to keep track of their individual progress.  Alien Equation also claims that it picks up on each player’s own capabilities, while giving them the nudge to try new things every once in a while.  With such a gradual way of adding new challenges, kids can learn at their own pace and improve their skills while having fun at the same time.

The best way for children to learn is to not feel like they are being forced to retain all the information thrown at them in a given day.  With a playful alternative such as Alien Equation, kids can mix an already entertaining concept – aliens – with the learning necessary for a child’s advancement and education.

Other characteristics that stand out are Alien Equation’s ability to resume the same game even if you have chosen to exit and the option to listen to either your iPod music or just the game’s sound effects during game play.

To view the trailer for Alien Equation, click here.  For an instructional tutorial of how the game works, click here.

Alien Equation requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

Price: $1.99    Rating: 7/10    By Anna Papachristos

Puzzles have become a staple in the gaming world.  From old-fashioned jigsaw puzzles to arcade classics like Tetris, people have found amusement in piecing things together.  With iRis AG by Rogue Pirate Ninja Interactive, LLC, users are presented with a more challenging, futuristic approach to the traditional puzzle game.

Like many other puzzle games, iRis AG involves matching falling, colored blocks.  However, this fast-paced game adds a twist – instead of guiding the blocks as they fall to the desired position, players must move the world in order to connect like-colored blocks and eliminate them.

As the blocks fall, players need only swipe their finger back and forth to adjust the position of the world.  Players only have control over those blocks that have stopped moving.  Once four or more of the same color are linked, including diagonally and zig-zagged, they disappear.  If said blocks happen to be underneath the pile, the whole tower will be eliminated along with them.  By creating and eliminating these piles, players achieve larger combos and earn extra points.

iRis AG offers two game modes, as well as three difficulty levels – easy, normal and hard.  Players can replay and master each level as many times as they wish, and with auto-save, players do not have to worry about losing game progress if interrupted by calls or texts on their iPhone.  Also, while playing, users can enjoy the game’s own soundtrack or choose to listen to music from their own iTunes library instead.

In the bottom corner, iRis AG displays two bars, one green and one red.  The green bar rises to indicate how close the player is to the next level.  The red bar, known as the mass bar, rises as more and more blocks build up on the screen.  Players must keep combining and earning points because once the mass bar fills, the game is over.  Scores can then be posted online to the global leaderboard, where users can battle it out for the top score against players all acorss the world.

The 3D nature of iRis AG makes the game more difficult to acclimatize to than most puzzle games because of the awkwardness in perceiving where colors line up, but the game’s customizable options make it stand out.  Unlike other puzzle games, iRis AG advertises a colorblind mode, something most do not take into account with such games.  Dependent upon successful color matching, this game allows even those with the impairment to enjoy this interesting game.

iRis AG requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Price: $0.99 (3 day sale)    Score: 8/10    By Joey Bright

Puzzle games are a huge part of the app store. Not only are there thousands now, but more and more are introduced every day. Many of those puzzle games released can be looked over without loosing a great gaming experience. Developed by PlayScreen, Match 3D Flick Puzzle is not one of those games.

The general game play of Match 3D is something that has been seen before. The object is to match three alike blocks in order to eliminate them, as more blocks drop down from the top of the screen to replace them. You need to achieve a certain amount of combos in order to progress to the next level. As you are doing this, there is a timer that will run out if you can’t match blocks fast enough. When you progress through the levels of the game, the timer gets quicker, and the game introduces a variety of challenges for the player to overcome, such as blocks that are unable to be moved.

What makes this game different from other puzzle games is the unique 3D aspect of it. As you are manipulating one plane on the cube puzzle, the other planes of the puzzle are also being affected by your movements. While the concept may be confusing, it makes things interesting as combos can be formed on a side of the puzzle that you are not even looking at. Some times, these blind combos may be the things that help get you to the next level. Also, you can change which side of the cube you are playing on, which makes it easy to start fresh in case you are having a tough time with one side of the cube.

There are a variety of options to customize the way you play. Match 3D Flick Puzzle features three different soundtracks to listen to while you are playing. You can also adjust settings such as off axis alpha, rotation snap, and locked brightness in the options panel. When you start a new game, you can choose from classic or survival mode, and choose if you want to play with no locked blocks, no multi blocks, etc.  The game has a leader board system to track how many points you get in either survival or classic mode, giving players the option to try and beat their past scores, or challenge their friends to beat their scores.

One downfall of Match 3D is the look of it. The 3D aspect is very entertaining, and the graphics are clean and colorful, however the characters and shapes on the block are generic to any puzzle game. Also, the starting menu screen is a little awkward when you first experience it. However, once you get into the puzzle, these cosmetic flaws are not enough to detract you from the overall experience.

Bottom Line: Match 3D Flick Puzzle introduces some unique and challenging game play options, has addictive and fun game play and is a great addition to any puzzle lovers arsenal.

Match 3D Flick Puzzle requires iPhone OS 2.2.1 or later and is compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch.

Price: $4.99    Score: 7/10    By Shaun Campbell

Ancient Frog is a wonderfully unique puzzle game from developer James Brown. Not only is Ancient Frog a refreshingly original game design, but it is incredibly polished – with some of the highest production values of any iPhone game.  The graphics are amazingly lifelike and realistic and the music is serene and calming – Ancient Frog is a joy to play.

The goal of Ancient Frog is essentially to complete each level by moving from Point A to Point B in the least moves possible. You control a little frog (of which there are six different species) and move him one limb at a time – so he can reach his prize (a fly of course).  To make things difficult, you can only move onto a limited number of sticky spots – and the frogs, as nimble as they are, can only stretch so far. The legs however, are longer and a bit more “stretchy” than the frogs little arms.

The stepping stones are often placed just out of reach, so you need to maneuver the frog carefully to reach your target in the designated number of moves – the par – for that level. Moving one limb then affects where you can move the other three. If you go over par, you’ll start to lose petals from a little daisy in the corner of the screen – if you don’t finish the level with at least some petals remaining, you won’t receive any points for that level. To help ease the inevitable frustration, you can swipe to undo, or redo moves.

All in all, there are 100 levels in Ancient Frog – more than enough to keep you well and truly puzzled. There is also a lot of variety in the levels, not only in terms of difficulty, but in the setting – backgrounds constantly change, from leaves, to bark to grass – and the frogs themselves change too.

Value for money is the only area where Ancient Frog comes up somewhat short. For a $4.99 game, you have to offer a lot – and while it is a beautiful game, there just doesn’t isn’t enough variety in gameplay to it to justify the asking price. At at $2.99 price-point Ancient Frog would represent much better value and be a must-have app.

Ancient Frog requires the 2.0 iPhone software update and is compatible with both the iPhone & iPod Touch.