Frisdinga gets some happy points from me. The design and animation is nice, it’s a boy and a girl and a dog and a plastic flying disc that looks rather like a Frisbee®, but can’t possibly be because of copyright violation (and the fact that the first part of the title is Fris probably is completely unrelated). Toss the flying disc and tilt up and down to get it all the way to your pup, avoiding boxes, pipes, metal barricades and huge crates of TNT (apparently this kid takes his dog to a poorly staffed quarry/building site on Sunday for a good old romp).

You only get five or six levels with the free version, but it’s worth a second look I think. One downfall I’ll warn you of, though – control sensitivity. The tilting controls are waaaay too tight. No hope in hell of a perfect golden-bone collection spree, any sudden movements and you’ve bashed a box. Unlike BloBox!, I can actually finish a level, but with a best score of, like, 23 out of 60, which makes me die a little inside.

Nonsense score: All-day schmim with a schmear!

I’m reserving the right to withhold judgment on Moonga. Turned out to be one of those magic fantasy card games. Not my thing, but it might be yours, so I gave it a mention in case you’re looking for one. I wouldn’t profess to know the difference between a good one and a bad one. Nice art, though.

Nonsense score: Jakotako?

 

Next up, how about some Glwp? Hmm. Well, it’s free at least. That’s something.

Yeah, not too sure about Glwp. I mean, I can kinda see where they were going with it… you have to paint the screen by bumping a coloured ball around, and you pick up splats and growers and shrinkers and such, so there’s a game in there certainly. But it’s a bit directionless to say the least. It’s also got a multiplayer setting, but I can’t see me pulling it out at the pub. “Who’s up for a bit of Glwp then, eh lads?”

Nonsense score: Rude and amusing sound x 4.

 
 

Nulis was an interesting cause-and-effect puzzle experience, and, in my opinion, was probably the best of the bunch. I recommend to fans of the calm and casual. It’s technically a puzzler, but it’s more of the physics-chain-reaction-elimination-relaxation variety than the frustrating-finger-pounding-single-solution style.

It’s like this: You’ve got a bunch of black balls and white balls. A finger poke draws the balls toward it. After that, it’s all down to basic combo formulae: Same colour singles join, opposite singles repel. A double-white and a black combine to make two single whites and two single blacks. A triple of the same colour vanishes. Hang on, this is making it sound too complicated. Let’s try algebra:

• W + B = W + B
• W + W = 2W
• 2W + B = W + W + B + B
• 2W + 2B = W + W + W + B + B + B
• 2W + W = 0

Okay, that didn’t help either. You’re basically joining and splitting particles until the board is cleared. I’m a math-head, I like this sort of stuff. Deffo worth a look.

Nonsense score: §!

And finally, Trigonon. I’d give this one at least a close second, possibly even sharing the gold with Nulis out of this batch.

It was the story that got me. See, at its core, Trigonon could have just been a bog-standard, bounce-the-ball-around game. There’s a ball, some walls, some tunnels, some energy boosters and exploding bricks, and you’re pushing angled walls around to get the ball to the hole. Suppose it’s a bit like like mini-golf, except instead of hitting the ball, you’re changing the banks of the course.

But then they took it a step further. They stepped up the production values and kicked it off with a Hollywood-style teaser about the Factory of the Human Mind, and how you need to set your trapped thoughts free. Barriers alter thought pathways, Negative Memories suppress positive ones, Connections can bring a thought onto a new synapse, Mnemonic Devices can bring back Forgotten Memories. By completing a level you increase your Consciousness.

I’ve done a few conference talks recently about the importance of story in even a simple game, and this is exactly the sort of thing I’m talking about. What could have been BALL BOUNCE LITE! ended up wrapped in a dark skin with a fabric of supernatural mysteriousness. Add a sexy intro, pick a nice font and a slick menu… it doesn’t take much and makes all the difference. Go on, at least grab Trigonon Free, see how you like the first 10 levels.

Nonsense score: Flashing happy manga turnip!

This is usually the time I would put in some sort of semi-clever wrap-up paragraph to pull together the seven games above into a life lesson to take away with you. But I’m not sure if I really learned anything.

So, in the absence of anything conclusive to say about all this, I’ll just leave you with the wise words of Milo, my 3-year-old son, who is quite clearly smack in the middle of the Age of Nonsense: “Schmaaaa shi-moooo bloo blee bloo blee aggl-aggl-aggl-aggle gah NO! NOOOO! AAAAAUGH!!! (dissolves into Eddie Murphy style laughter).” Yeah, he’s a keeper.