I love a good puzzle game to keep me occupied on a long bus or train journey, but I'm fed up of all the Tetris or Sudoku clones that keep springing up on mobile platforms.
Shift makes for a refreshing break on Windows Mobile, with some innovative gameplay that will keep you hooked for ages. The game consists of a series of coloured blocks with faces on that you must match together in groups of three or more to clear them. The difference between this and games like Tetris is that all the blocks move as one big lump.
Shift makes full use of the touchscreen, allowing you to tap any of the four directional arrows to move the blocks in that way. I'll admit that, at first, it tried my patience somewhat, and I thought I'd never score more than a few points. With a bit of persistence though I was able to rack up combos and hit some seriously good scores (even if I do say so myself!) After that it would take a meteor (or, in reality, the fact I had to write a review about it) to get me off this one.
It can become somewhat repetitive but the inclusion of two difficulty levels and a high scores table adds to the longevity of Shift. You can also choose to show or hide the next bricks to test yourself even further.
This is an innovative puzzle game with colourful graphics that's perfect for those tedious bus journies. Just be careful you don't miss your stop!
