Clever Hamster Games' Pixel Quartet [99�] is a perfect example of a really unique puzzle game that came out of nowhere on the App Store. It recently popped up on our radar, and I've been trying my hardest to play through it. The thing is, it's incredibly difficult, especially if you're not very good at matching musical tones. I'm not sure how much of a "review" I can offer, as I admittedly got stuck fairly early on in the game, but I'll lay out the basic premise for musical warriors greater than I to take up their sword in attempt to vanquish the puzzles in this game.

At its most basic, gameplay in Pixel Quartet involves listening to a short musical track that only consists of a few notes. These notes are then represented by a ball that rolls across a grid, and in order to replicate the short clip you heard initially you need to position notes and directional arrows on the grid. Whenever the ball hits one of these tiles, it plays a musical note. The level is complete once you figure out where to position the arrows and musical notes to make the ball follow a path to repeat the initial musical loop three times.

Sound hard? That's because it is. The next level has you managing not one, but two balls, each which must play a separate musical loop. Further on, you're faced with managing even more loops and recreating them with the finite space of the game grid along with the various tiles you're allowed to drag on to it. These tiles do things like change the pitch of a note, make the ball pause for a number of beats, and more.

In order to solve each puzzle, you need to have each ball playing one of the musical loops laid out at the beginning of the level, and it has to repeat each time. You also have to avoid the balls crossing paths, adding an even greater wrinkle of difficulty.

I'd guess for most people, this level of difficulty will result in quite a bit of frustration. Often your loops can just barely be off, and fixing them requires reassembling all or most of your loops. Similarly, if you don't have a discerning ear, matching the pitch of each of the notes can involve an irritating amount of trial and error. I can hardly fault the game for this though, as I've told a few friends of mine who fancy themselves musicians who also love iOS puzzle games and they've reported having a fantastic time with the game. I'm just not the target audience.

If you're the kind of person who likes puzzle games with a difficulty level easily disguised as "brutal", and you've got an ear for music, Pixel Quartet is a game that you simply must try. To sweeten the deal, it's even universal for both the iPhone and iPad. I wish a lite version was available, as I feel this is a game that you'll be able to tell which side of the love/hate fence you're on within a few moments of playing. Regardless, at 99�, it shouldn't be that big of a leap of faith to slam the "download now" button if this at all sounds interesting to you.

<!-- PHP 5.x -->

In Japanese, the word Karoshi translates to "death from overwork", which makes it an absolutely fitting title to They Need To Be Fed [99�] developer YoYo Games' newest offering. In Karoshi [99�], you play as none other than Mr. Karoshi who is stuck working long hours at a job he hates in hopes of getting a promotion. This work-related stress has finally got to him, and he spends all his time dreaming up different ways that he could end it all.

You may have come across Karoshi in various forms as a PC or Flash game over the past several years, and it appears that the content in this new iOS version differs from the others. Each of the 50 levels in Karoshi look similar to your average 2D side-scrolling platformer, though instead of actually reaching the end of a level, the goal is to figure out how to kill poor Mr. Karoshi, which is not quite as easy as it sounds.

You can move Mr. Karoshi left or right and jump using onscreen virtual buttons. There are boxes that can be moved and switches that can be activated, which will do things like trigger flames or electricity in the ground or make once solid platforms disappear. These hazards, along with touching any spikes or being struck with objects, can quickly end Mr. Karoshi's fragile existence. The levels are set up so that you must find out how to use these instruments of death to put Mr. Karoshi out of his misery.

There are also two characters who will affect Mr. Karoshi in different ways during the game. One is his wife, Mrs. Karoshi, whom he loves dearly. Coming into contact with her elates him, giving him the ability to jump much higher and rendering any spikes in a level into harmless flowers. The second character is Mr. Karoshi's boss, whom he hates with a burning passion. Coming into contact with him depresses Mr. Karoshi, causing him to not be able to jump as high as he normally could. At certain points in the game it's even necessary to control these characters directly to accomplish your goal.

What makes Karoshi so downright awesome is how you must take all of these factors into consideration in order to beat the game's levels. Karoshi is more of a puzzle game than anything, with platforming as its mechanic. Some of the levels are fiendishly difficult too, often with the answer blatantly staring you in the face the entire time. Finally figuring out a tricky level is extremely gratifying though, and you'll often sit back and marvel at just how clever some of the level designs are.

There's also an additional mode aside from the 50 level Story mode called KaroshiWare. As the name implies, it's a WarioWare-type survival mode that features a random series of tasks that must be completed in rapid fire succession. After a brief countdown you're presented with a simplified level setup and instructions to either kill yourself, survive, or not move at all. You're only given 5 seconds to complete each bite-sized level, so you must react extremely quickly to the instructions. This mode is totally fun and a nice diversion from the main game, and could easily be a separate game itself.

Up to this point everything is sounding pretty good for Karoshi, but unfortunately there is a huge drawback to the game which is the terrible controls. They are among the most unresponsive and finicky controls that I've ever encountered on iOS. Due to the puzzle-like nature of the game, they are still serviceable as you don't always need pinpoint precision to play. But they will still frustrate you to no end. I have uttered curse words I didn't even know existed because of the poor controls. It's strange too, because I haven't heard anybody in our forums complain of this problem. Sadly, the control issue has turned what could very easily be one of my favorite games into a less enjoyable experience, and I'm really hoping it can be addressed in a future update.

Even with the problems with the controls, Karoshi is still a game worth playing. The fact that I'm willing to put up with such a frustrating complication is a testament to the quality of the game. The ingenious level designs and dark humor of Karoshi is worth occasionally fighting the controls for.

<!-- PHP 5.x -->

Pocket Legends [Free] succeeded where World of Warcraft has failed me. Try as I might, I've never been able to play Blizzard Entertainment's MMO on the toilet. Now, Pocket Legends, on the other hand… man, we've had some seriously�productive time together on the toilet.

And in Q2 2011, I'll have to shed Pocket Legends for another MMO created by the gurus over at Spacetime Studios. It's called Blackstar, and like its predecessor, it'll feature three unique classes to choose from, a 3D world to interact within, tons of loot, and even a few chat features like in-game chat and friends lists.

Unfortunately, Spacetime isn't divulging much at the moment about Blackstar other than those basics, but we do know a few cool specifics: its plot, it's past, and its platforms.

As for the plot, the game will revolve around a "conflict" set in the 41st century between four groups: the arcane-infused Scorn and the cybernetic Riven, and the terrans and their robotic counterparts, dubbed the Mode. The game will, presumably, be split into chapters, but I'd imagine this stuff will have a place in each.

Interestingly, the framework in which this battle will take place is built on the back of an unreleased PC game going by the same name. Spacetime Studios talks up the fact that it is using that title's tech and art, attempting to reassure folks that the game won't be a content-light. We'll have to see about that, though.

But before I close this out, I'll note this cool factoid: Blackstar is slated to be a cross-platform game, seeing a release in Q2 for both Android and iOS. And while we're touching on network, know this: the game will support EDGE, 3G, Wi-Fi, and even 4G connections. Radical.

Sounds like Pocket Legends with a sci-fi twist, right? That's not a bad thing, either. We were huge fans of that initial MMO, and I'd imagine a few community members are still messing around in the world.

It'll be interesting to see if some of the problems from that game will be addressed in this one, provided that they're actually related. Also, it'll be just as interesting to see if IAP will be used as heavily. C'mon Q2!

<!-- PHP 5.x -->

Pocket Legends [Free] succeeded where World of Warcraft has failed me. Try as I might, I've never been able to play Blizzard Entertainment's MMO on the toilet. Now, Pocket Legends, on the other hand… man, we've had some seriously�productive time together on the toilet.

And in Q2 2011, I'll have to shed Pocket Legends for another MMO created by the gurus over at Spacetime Studios. It's called Blackstar, and like its predecessor, it'll feature three unique classes to choose from, a 3D world to interact within, tons of loot, and even a few chat features like in-game chat and friends lists.

Unfortunately, Spacetime isn't divulging much at the moment about Blackstar other than those basics, but we do know a few cool specifics: its plot, it's past, and its platforms.

As for the plot, the game will revolve around a "conflict" set in the 41st century between four groups: the arcane-infused Scorn and the cybernetic Riven, and the terrans and their robotic counterparts, dubbed the Mode. The game will, presumably, be split into chapters, but I'd imagine this stuff will have a place in each.

Interestingly, the framework in which this battle will take place is built on the back of an unreleased PC game going by the same name. Spacetime Studios talks up the fact that it is using that title's tech and art, attempting to reassure folks that the game won't be a content-light. We'll have to see about that, though.

But before I close this out, I'll note this cool factoid: Blackstar is slated to be a cross-platform game, seeing a release in Q2 for both Android and iOS. And while we're touching on network, know this: the game will support EDGE, 3G, Wi-Fi, and even 4G connections. Radical.

Sounds like Pocket Legends with a sci-fi twist, right? That's not a bad thing, either. We were huge fans of that initial MMO, and I'd imagine a few community members are still messing around in the world.

It'll be interesting to see if some of the problems from that game will be addressed in this one, provided that they're actually related. Also, it'll be just as interesting to see if IAP will be used as heavily. C'mon Q2!

<!-- PHP 5.x -->