I love technology, so when I discover a severed robot head, my first instinct is to place it back on its body. This makes me ideally suited for the physics puzzler �D-Capitatrax [99�/HD] from developer�Gamesmold. The background story is simple: a machine known as the "Golden Mistress" became jealous of the new advanced models of female robot, so she decapitated them all. However, she didn't realize the new-and-improved sexy robo-girls possessed wormhole generating capabilities, which would enable them to teleport their severed robotic heads back towards their curvaceous artificial bodies.

This game requires a combination of tilt and touch controls. Tilting your device to the left or right causes a severed robot head, and other objects in the level, to roll about. There are also two portals which you can touch and relocate, to establish a wormhole. Once the two portals are in position, you roll the head into one portal so it teleports to the strategically chosen destination. The goal is to navigate the level, collect three battery packs, then reunite the head with the body. If you've played the popular Portal series, then you'll be familiar with the concept of strategically placing portals. The developer acknowledges that D-Capitatrix is "a kind of 2D interpretation of the Portal gameplay".

To make things interesting, a number of obstacles are placed in your path, including fire, electricity, balls, bombs, concrete barriers, weight-activated platforms and nasty head-crushing wall-traps. There's also the risk of teleporting somewhere without an exit, which leaves you stranded and forced to restart the level. And if you're not gentle with your tilting, objects like bombs may slide unintentionally into your wormhole, with explosive consequences.

Some puzzles require the robot head to build up speed to travel further. This is achieved by placing the two portals in-line with each other, forming an endless loop. The teleported object will move faster and faster through the wormhole, accompanied by a satisfying acceleration sound. When you suddenly move one portal to a new location, the teleported object shoots out at warp speed. This speed burst helps the head move further or, if your bomb supply is depleted, can smash a concrete barrier. You can't tilt your device completely upside down, so instead portals are used to jump into the air.

The robot graphics are retina and lovely. The level graphics are minimalistic which is appropriate, however the fire effect does look a bit average in comparison to the quality lady-bots. Did I mention the robots in this game are sexy electronic she-bots? I can only assume that "D-Capitatrix" is a play on the words "decapitated" and "dominatrix", because once you complete a level her head spins into place and she turns and struts off with a fierce Beyonce-style, hip-waggling sashay. She also talks in an appropriately sexy computerized monotone. And the music matches the futuristic setting perfectly.

There's 30 levels to solve in total. Most levels require some thought to solve, but nothing too strenuous on the brain so far. Unfortunately, efficient gameplay is not really rewarded. There's no time-limits or move-counters, nor any three star rating system, so there's no incentive to optimize your solution or replay for better scores. In fact, there are no scores or achievements, just the satisfaction of unlocking each level and helping the cyborg sisterhood. The original release did experience some crashes, but the latest update appears to have resolved these. There's also a slight delay at times, while levels are loaded.

D-Capitatrix is a strategic puzzler that's engaging and entertaining. Who can resist unique gameplay, appealing graphics, good music and hot bots, for a buck? Not me. This is one of those games which flies slightly under the radar, but is definitely worth checking out.

Space is a pretty lonely place, something you'll discover in Jonathan Mulcahy's A Long Way Home [99�]. Stranded a hundred light years away from Earth after a catastrophic ship explosion, the game's astronaut hero has to find a way home. He travels from galaxy to galaxy alone, with just a haunting piano soundtrack and an occasionally chatty wrist computer to accompany him.

To find his way home, he needs to jump from asteroid to asteroid, collecting enough dark matter to open a wormhole and travel another light year toward Earth. The asteroids rotate slowly, and its your job to pick the right moment to jump. Time it well and aim correctly, and he'll fly in a straight line toward your next target, or near enough to get picked up in its gravity. Aim poorly and he'll fly straight off into the endless void of space. Not a good way to go.

I found it challenging enough to survive many of the game's 100 levels, because jumping across large chasms of space from tiny, rotating asteroids takes a lot of precision. Even if you've got great aim, the challenge ramps up as you're introduced to debris fields, asteroids that limit your jumps, teleporting dark matter and other obstacles. But despite all the potential chaos this is a slow, thoughtful game. Occasionally you'll need to act fast, but for most of the game you'll be waiting for the perfect jump.

A Long Way Home rewards patience, while impatience usually gets you killed. You can walk around the asteroids using your choice of on-screen, accelerometer or hot zone controls, and that speeds things up a bit, but if you jump too soon you'll have to wait until you've drifted away and then start the whole level over again. If that sounds like something that would make you want to smash your iPad over your knee after a few tries, this isn't your game.

Even with the patience of a saint, you may run into a few frustrating spots. You can die unfairly in some levels, skimming the edge of the screen or getting a little too close to a debris field. I also ran into one bug that nearly broke the game, letting me skip a few levels and making my computerized companion wander off for the start of a new galaxy. A reset fixed it, but a major error like that makes me a bit more cautious about recommending the game.

If you can look past those few bugs, though, A Long Way Home is a game worth experiencing. With my headphones in and the music on, the feeling of loneliness was so visceral that I found myself actually missing my chats with the wrist computer. It can really hold up its end of a conversation, but it's only around to introduce new game mechanics. The rest of the time, it's just you and the universe. I wouldn't blame anyone who found that dull, but with a few fixes this could be a real indie darling. If you're up for patient, thoughtful gameplay that makes for an evocative experience, you should give A Long Way Home a shot.