Last November, indie developer Spaces of Play released their unique take on the Lemmings formula called Spirits [99�/HD]. In Spirits, you negotiate a series of 40 cleverly designed levels while commanding a group of floppy-headed spirit folk. The general gameplay is pretty similar to Lemmings, where you can assign tasks to individual spirits like digging holes or becoming ladders so your fellow spirits can make it past a blocked path. What really set Spirits apart is how there are various wind currents flowing through each level, and when you direct your spirits into these currents their umbrella-like heads filled with the breeze and they were swept up into the flow of air.

The wind factor turned Spirits into a very different beast than its inspiration Lemmings, and the fantastic hand-drawn artwork and beautiful music made for an incredibly engaging gameplay experience. We really liked Spirits in our review, and it has even gone on to win several different design awards since its release in November. While originally released on the iPad, in December an iPhone version hit the App Store, and despite the smaller screen space the excellent gameplay translated very well. Now, to celebrate the coming of GDC in San Francisco which kicks off next week, both the iPad and iPhone/iPod touch versions of Spirits are available for just 99�.

Either version of Spirits was well worth their original price points, and at 99� each they are practically no-brainers if you're into puzzle games, or if you just like games with very pleasing aural and visual features. There is a very challenging nature to Spirits if you try to beat each level using the least amount of spirits as possible, or if you are trying to collect the often difficultly placed bonus plants throughout the levels for maximum completion. But these are not required, and there's also a very casual aspect to Spirits if you're just looking for basic completion of each level, and the music and visuals offer an almost zen-like experience as you play.

There's a discussion of Spirits taking place in both the�iPad games thread or the thread for the iPhone version, and it's highly recommended that you check out Spirits during this 99� sale which will be running until next Friday, March 4th.

App Store Links:

• Spirits, $0.99
• Spirits for iPad, $0.99 (iPad Only)