Check out the latest and greatest in apps for your Windows Phone 7 smartphone with our monthly app roundup.
Chickens Can Dream
Mmmm… flame-roasted chicken.
Chickens Can Dream is an ‘avoid the obstacles while falling’ style game, where you have to avoid the obstacles while falling (I hope you can forgive me for that one) down a bottomless pit.
Despite the prospect of spending the rest of its days in this infinite chasm, our hero of a chicken still has will enough to spread its wings (when you tap the screen) and slow itself down to avoid the flamethrowers, helicopters, circular saws, boots on sticks, and other objects that tend to thrive in such impossible habitats. Such is the way of life, I suppose: better a life falling downward at terminal velocity than no life at all. But I digress.
Sustenance for the poor chicken comes in the form of corn kernels, while hope comes in the form of power ups (some good, some bad).
The game itself is quite attractive, with cartoonish graphics and sounds (but no music, which bothers me not a bit), responsive tilt-controls, short loading times, and a list of missions/achievements (that, for some reason, aren’t linked to Xbox Live) that help the chicken pass the hours, sort of like a morbid “I Spy” for the terminal road trip to hell.
Free > Amused Sloth > Link Burn the Rope
A different take on accelerometer-based gaming, Burn The Rope requires you to burn ropes of different shapes. Once you light a rope, you need to rotate your phone to keep the rope above the flame so that it can burn. If the rope goes below the flame, it will gutter out. A simple concept that gets more difficult when you start having to deal with more than one flame at a time.
All in all, it’s a great, high-quality, polished puzzler.
US$2.99 > Big Blue Bubble > Link Stacks for Instapaper
Instapaper is one of the most popular apps on iOS, simply because it’s a really good idea. It allows you to save long articles to read later – even when offline. Stacks uses the Instapaper API (available to paid Instapaper subscribers) to give the same great experience on Windows Phone 7.
It supports offline reading, folder management, and customisable reading views. The new version supports background sync, too. You can also use the service to quickly flick a long article over to your tablet or PC.
US$2.99 > WPWonders > Link NextWar
NextWar: The Quest for Earth was originally an indie Xbox 360 game, but it has been lovingly ported to its diminutive cousin, WP7. It’s one of many tower defence games available on mobile platforms, but its retro graphics, challenging levels, and ‘twisting path’ style gameplay make it stand out as one of the best.
There are 7 tower types with unlockable upgrades, and 10 missions to complete. To keep you interested, there is also a skirmish mode, although the hardcore may lament the lack of achievements.
$2.99 > Micron Games Studios > Link 